


A hammer to the time line

by Amara22



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First War with Voldemort, M/M, Marauders' Era, Master of Death Harry Potter, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-06-10 12:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 61,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15291234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amara22/pseuds/Amara22
Summary: Death gives the last four survivors a second chance to end the war before it consumes Britain and four friends and siblings in everything but blood have the chance at a new family. The marauders meet the quadruplet Peverell siblings...





	1. Chapter 1

AN: I got this idea in my head and since I can’t get rid of it… I’m gonna try and write as much as possible.. if anyone has any ideas about what direction this should head in lemme know because I don’t know where its going.

I will never be okay with Lily ending up with James. I see James as a person who desperately wanted something that he couldn’t have and didn’t care about who he hurt in his pursuit to get it. I see him as rich and spoiled and he was never told no which was the reason why he wanted Lily so desperately because she was the only person who denied him so they will not be paired together but I’m not pairing her with Snape either. I honestly think that without the war and the bullying he would have outgrown his crush and moved on because she was more of a sister to him, most childhood friendships end up with a more sibling like feel, if she hadn’t died, he would have gotten over it.

Lemme know if you like the pairings Sirius/Harry, Hermione/Severus, Neville/Remus, Draco/Lily, and James/Marlene.

Everything is canon until Tom kills Harry in the forest and Narcissa declares him dead.

Chapter one

Harry Potter was 28 years old and he had completely and utterly lost hope, back when he was 17 he had so desperately wished that it would have all been over. They had lost so many people, dozens of good people, of his friends and family but it wasn’t enough. When Voldemort realized that Harry was still alive the light and dark clashed once more however this time there was one difference, Tom Riddle had taken his horcrux, that thrice damned snake and disappeared. He allowed his army to fight until they retreated with dozens dead on both sizes and now over a decade later they were still fighting and they were losing.

The Order was gone, Hogwarts was rubble and Voldemort sat on a bloody throne somewhere under Fidelius charm. Ron was long since dead as were the rest of his family and everyone he had ever loved save a few. Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy survived. Draco had learned much from Snape, more than anyone had ever realized because Snape had trained him to take his place if it were ever needed. The grumpy misunderstood man had the most powerful occlumency shields that the world had ever seen and he had taught his godson to be better, he trained him in potions, in dueling, in dark magic during the year he was at school until he was almost comatose with information and he had proved himself many times over as an asset. He had eventually been discovered and was on the run for the past year and they all knew they couldn’t hold out much longer and they couldn’t win this godforsaken war.

During their time on the run, Draco taught them everything that Snape had taught him while Hermione taught them everything else under the sun. They learned through their pain and they fought with everything that they had and it still wasn’t enough. Harry had always been powerful but as time passed his power grew more and more until he managed to go toe to toe with Voldemort until he once more escaped and was never seen again not willing to face Harry again instead telling his army to kill him on sight. It was now too dangerous for him to face his ‘equal’ as he had finally grown into his power and was no longer a child.

This war had been lost before it even began, it was lost during his first war, everything he did the second time around was just picking up where he had once left off, the last time it had taken a baby and a miracle to save them, this time there were no more sacrifices and no more miracles, they were going to die and with them the resistance would die as well. Harry closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to watch his siblings in everything but blood die before his eyes as what seemed to be dozens of death eaters had once more thrown the killing curse at them and he wished he could have saved them all but he had failed as he saw the sickly green curse fly towards him once more his last thought was that he had failed to stop him.

When he awoke he was once again in Kings Cross Station, this time however he was not alone and he was not meeting Albus either. Hermione, Draco and Neville were all there waiting for him with smiles on their faces until a man dressed in a black suit appeared. He was utterly normal except for the scythe that he carried in his hand.

“Hello Master.” The man greeted joyfully.

Harry immediately stiffened, “The only reason you would call me ‘Master’ is if you were Death and I got rid of the stone so that I couldn’t be your Master.”

The man rolled his eyes at them and said, “It doesn’t matter, the cloak was yours by right of birth, the wand was yours by right of conquest while the stone was yours by right of Magic.”

Hermione bit her lip, “What do you mean by right of Magic?”

Death looked at her and rolled her eyes, “My sister Magic Miss Granger. I am the physical representation of Death and I have two sisters Fate and Magic. Fate sends messages to the moral realm through her chosen, you call them seers however its never very clear what she’s trying to say but Magic is different, it lives in every witch and wizard as a force of nature neither good nor evil but a tool which one is born with.”

The four of them just looked at him even more confused and Draco drawled out, “Again, we are here because?”

Death sighed and continued, “The Deathly Hallows can only be united under certain circumstances which Mr. Potter here as fulfilled. He got the cloak by right of birth, won the wand but the stone was tricky part. To win the stone one would have to accept death. Harry Potter knows Death well, it comes as friend or foe, to those who go either willingly or begging for a second chance however it is not something to be afraid off. There is nothing but peace and love in the afterlife which is why one would have to find the stone, use the stone and willingly let it go because they have accepted that the dead do not belong here even though you threw it away you still won the title.”

Neville cracked his neck and watched as Hermione winced at the cracking sound he made when he spoke, “What does it mean to be the Master of Death and why are we here? It was Harry that holds the title so why are we here?”

Death waved his hand and a lounge set appeared, “Sit down and get comfortable.”

The four friends did as they were told and waited to hear why they were here, “We could have brought you here at any time after Harry threw the stone away but we waited. You were all too young and you didn’t have enough skills not yet. Simply put none of you were ready and we honestly were not sure if it would be you four or not. You have each mastered your roles and your abilities and we believe that you have grown and have become more jaded, you are finally your own people not dependent on the memory of your parents or mentors but finally see the truth which is a burden in its own regard.

When Tom Riddle created horcruxes he went against Magic but also Fate and Death. Magic is a balance and the tearing of the soul goes against nature its not dark magic but black magic and Magic cursed him which is the reason for the snake appearance. Fate can only guide whole souls and I cannot reap a soul tethered to the mortal realm. We cannot stop him, we tried with the prophecy but that just created an even bigger mess. This was not what we wanted and we could only watch helpless as he destroyed the balance of the world. The war is moving, he is invading France and he will win, he will eventually be a force far greater than Grindlwald until we found a loophole.

As Master of Death you can force me not to reap your soul but I know you Mr. Potter, you know you cannot win in your time even if you force me to send you back like your friend Neville said they do not hold the same power, they will remain dead if you choose to go back to where you left and so we offer you and your family an opportunity to stop the war before it destroys the balance completely. Fate, Magic and I are willing to send you four back to 1975, yes all four of you so that Master will not be alone and you will all get to live, in return you will stop this war and save as many people as possible and you Mr. Potter will sacrifice your power as Master of Death and return to being mortal.”

Hermione’s mind was already moving as fast as possible trying to cover all the ways this could go right or wrong while Harry just stared at Death in shock unable to believe he was actually offered something like this.

“Time travel is dangerous. What if we cause ourselves not to be born or make things worse?” Hermione asked.

Death shook his head at her, “You would be correct if you used time turners or a spell or potion but this isn’t how it works. You will go with the blessing of Fate, Time and Death. You cannot come back to your timeline, any changes you make will not cause any paradoxes because you will exist outside of time. The people you remember will only be remembered by you. People are shaped by their environments, by the people around them and by circumstances and the choices they make. Once you go back you will interact with people, befriend them, make enemies and none of them will be the people you know. They will be 15 year old teenagers who have their whole lives ahead of them, they will not make the same choices nor will they choose to love the same people. If you go back you have to accept that there are possibilities that some of your friends might never be born because the teen selves of the original Order will make different choices. They will have the same names and look similar to the people you knew but they will not be your parents, mentors or friends. You will have to accept the decisions they make whether it changes the timeline or not.”

Draco narrowed his eyes, “What about the fact that I’m obviously a Malfoy, he is a Potter and he is a Longbottom. Anyone who looks at us will notice it.”

Death rolled his eyes, “You will be quadruplets. The Peverell quadruplets, do a heritage test at Gringotts and you will have a background set up. Your looks will change, your memories locked away so that you will never be able to reveal your secret ever, it will never be spoken about and the time line will be as you know it until you start to change things from then on you are on your own but the sooner you kill him the better afterwards you are all free to live on until you die again this time for the last time.”

The four friends looked at each other and Harry said, “I died thinking I failed. I want a second chance at this.”

Hermione put her hand on his, “They won’t be your parents or even your godfather Harry. They’re just teenagers, innocent. I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

Harry sighed, “My parents died, our friends and family died. They deserve to live, all of them and I know we won’t be a family and once things change there might never be a Harry James Potter but as long as they’re all happy, its fine. I could at least be their friend.”

Hermione and Harry turned to Draco and Neville and the other two boys smiled at them, “We go where you go and if you think we could win this then we will follow you.”

The four friends turned to Death and nodded and before they could go he waved a hand at them and they felt different. Death conjured up a mirror to show them their new look in case they wanted something different.

Neville’s hair was slightly shaggy and the colour was now black with several white-blonde hair mixed into the black but when he turned his head he noticed that if he stood in the sun there was also blood red highlights. It was a beautiful mixture of Draco’s blonde, Harry’s black and Hermione’s brown hair. His eyes matched Harry’s emerald green and he had higher cheekbones. He looked to be about 15 years old, different be recognizable as Neville. He had a scar running under his left ear to his left shoulder as well as several other curse scars and burns from his time fighting.

Draco’s hair was more black than blonde with one or two red highlights in his usual hairstyle, with green eyes and a less pointy chin and lower cheekbones. His lips were slightly fuller as well, there was a scar where his dark mark had been and the palms of his hands were branded with a snake. Bella had fun, heating a metal snake figurine and burning the image into her nephews hands. Draco repaid her by blowing her head off. His body was littered with other curse marks and burns but those were the ones that stood out. The scar where the dark mark had been when Harry managed to remove it was an inch in width and very noticeable.

Hermione’s curls which once hung to her waist had been chopped off during the war and now it was back. She had honestly missed her long hair and was pleased to see it fell in sleek waves instead of a bush. The colour was more of a deep red with blonde highlights, the red so dark it looked like it was black at first glance. She had green eyes which she was extremely pleased with as she was always wished to have an exotic eye colour. Her mudblood scar remained as did the one from her chest to tummy and the several curse scars on her back. She wore them with pride, as proof of her survival.

Harry was the same but his hair was pulled into a pony tail, the glasses were gone, scar on his forehead, arm, upper arm from the giant snake, whip marks on his back and the hundreds of others everywhere else. The obvious Potter features were gone as well. They all had several features in common and it was obvious to see that they were all siblings.

Death waved his hand again and said, “You will appear in Gringotts where Hadrian Peverell will do a heritage test. I would like to remind you that summer has only started and you have all just been attacked recently. Your battle wounds from before will be healed but Hermione you will have relapses from the curio so I suggest taking it easy goodbye and good luck.”

Edited 20/11/2018


	2. Chapter 2

AN: No one said anything about my pairings so I’m keeping them this way Sirius/Harry, Hermione/Severus, Neville/Remus, Draco/Lily, James/Marlene, and Peter/Mary.

Chapter two

When the siblings opened their eyes they were shocked to find themselves sitting in a private room with four goblins holding out a ceremonial knife so that they could do a heritage test. They looked at Hadrian who nodded his head and they each cut their palms, allowed three drops of blood to hit the parchment and then they vanished the blood on the knife. None of them noticed the gaze of respect that the goblins gave for actually being able to do wandless magic but that they also were intelligent enough not leave any blood lying around something that most wizards took for granted.

The parchments glowed gold as their blood spread across the parchment and formed words. They each watched in shock as their results showed.

Hadrian Hades Peverell

Lord of the Most Ancient And Noble House of Peverell

Vault 322

Draco Thanatos Peverell

Lord of Most Ancient And Most Noble House of Slytherin

Vault 543

Neville Anubis Peverell

Lord of Most Ancient And Most Noble House of Gryffindor

Vault 567

Hermione Hel Peverell

Lady to Most Ancient And Most Noble House of Ravenclaw

Vault 432

Their results showed that their father was a pureblood Lord who was the direct ancestor of Godric Gryffindor and he was the Lord Peverell who had been born in Greece. Their mother was thought to be a muggleborn as she came from a long line of squibs from America which entitled them to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw titles. They had complete control of Hogwarts castle even if the Hufflepuff heir could be found they still held the majority votes and had several votes in the Wizengamot. The quadruplets had a lot of power in the wizarding world however they also had a back story, one that while there was evidence if their lives in this time, they had no memories of what supposedly happened.

Their father had been in hiding from a dark wizard who was interested in the Peverell family history. When they were 15 months old their father had been killed and then their mother. Afterwards there was an explosion and because it was a mostly muggle town, the muggle police arrived first. The four children were taken to a muggle orphanage and by the time the aurors were able to find the children the only family left were their mothers squib sister. Hadrian was sent to live with their biological aunt and uncle, who absolutely loathed magic and hated him while his siblings had already been adopted. It had simply taken too long for the aurors to find them and place the remaining sibling with the only remaining family left.

Draco had been taken in by a small pureblood family in France who saw him do accidental magic in the orphanage. They were pureblood supremacists. They were a dark family and Draco grew up believing they were his biological parents. He had wanted to make them happy and copied his father as much as possible which included his narrow minded views.

Hermione was adopted by muggles who loved her very much. They didn’t understand her magic but they dealt with it as best they could. She was an intelligent child, which isolated her from her peers. She grew up ignorant of the magical world.

Neville was adopted by a light family who saw him do magic as well. They died in some sort of magical experiment which left him to be raised by his fathers mother. She constantly compared him to adopted father and didn’t know that he was adopted. 

They all had similar childhoods to their original until they were reunited so they didn’t have to pretend that they knew each from birth, they could still draw on their childhood without expecting the others to say the same thing.

Before their eleventh birthday their Godfather finally found Hadrian who then managed to track down his siblings. Draco’s parents attacked their Godfather and he killed them, took his godson and left. Neville’s grandmother gave him up willing when she found out he was adopted and Hermione’s parents died in a car accident so they were all reunited by their 11th birthday. Their Godfather taught them everything he knew and pushed them hard because he knew he was going to die as he was very sick. It was the reason he had been unable to find them for so long. When he died they were sent to Britain do an inheritance test and go to Hogwarts so they could take their OWL’s. Their Godfather had already passed on and he had ensured that they were already emancipated so that no one could try and take guardianship of them and they could claim their titles.

When they first arrived in Britain they were captured by Death eaters and held prisoner for over a month until the aurors raided the place they had been kept and rescued them. They refused to tell that they had magical parents and so some deranged death eater carved mudblood into Hermione. The reason the aurors raided the place was because the three brothers went mad at hearing their sisters screams during her torture. They blasted through the wards using pure raw anger and they slaughtered every death eater they came across.

The Daily Profit had several pictures of the place and of the Quadruplets who had turned the house into a massacre. There were some pictures of some of their scars but nothing major. Hadrian had been the one hurt the most, his entire hip to knee had been completely destroyed by rubble. He was currently walking using a cane but he would eventually recover.

Hermione had several rounds of the Cruciatus and would sometimes have relapses and muscle spasms. Her body was extremely weak so that she couldn’t walk for long periods of time nor could she carry heavy loads. The damage would eventually be repaired but it would take some time for her to regain her strength.

Neville and Draco had been spared any major damage however they would need several nutrient potions for quiet a while to regain their weight. They were all severely malnourished. They were given several stacks of paper work so that they could see how many properties they owned and what they needed to do as their Houses were in complete disrepair. Hadrian chose Peverell Palace as their home and their base of operations.

Neville took one look at the huge manor and groaned. The place had not been inhabited for several decades and thankfully there were four house elves, Mippy, Dippy, Listy and Solly. They were all so happy to have Masters and a Mistress once more and even though the house was clean it needed a lot of work. Hadrian, Draco and Hermione dropped their stacks of paperwork on Neville’s desk and left him to it.

Neville would get the house up and running and sort through all the paperwork. He would be sort through everything that needed to address and what was acceptable and when that was done, Draco would go through the laws which were passed due to whatever illegal reason someone used their votes, rewrite the entire thing and make sure it was water tight, covering all their bases as he was the best politician and then they would throw it to Hadrian who would talk and be their face. Hermione was their researcher, she looked over whatever Draco wrote and made sure all their bases were covered.

While Neville was sorting through the house and the paperwork, Draco and Hadrian were going through the history and papers. They were gathering information on the war, what was happening and who was doing what. Hadrian had eventually made his peace with Dumbledore, the man had never been perfect but he had tried and so they would give him the benefit of the doubt. He cared very much which was the reason why he carried so much guilt over every death but this time they weren’t going to let him lead the war his way. They tried it his way, it failed. They would work with him but they wouldn’t dance to his tunes and they would force him to see the bigger picture whether he liked it or not. War was ugly and people would die, some they would have to kill but it had to be done and there were no more second chances.

The last of the horcruxes were only hidden by the end of 1978 and afterwards he didn’t make another horcrux until the second war so this time they weren’t going to just destroy all which would eventually alert him to what they were doing but they weren’t just going to leave it lying about. They would collect the horcruxes and wait until the locket was in the cave then they would destroy all at the same time and kill him once and for all. That gave them three years to pull as many Slytherins to their side as possible.

They would stop Peter from turning dark as well as save as many Slytherins as possible. There were many who regretted their choices and this time they would bow to the Lord of Slytherin not an insane mad man claiming to be the heir of Slytherin.

While Draco and Harry wrote out the time line as well as pulling several memories of what they knew about the First war. Draco was a history buff and he had known everything about the moves the Dark had made, several raids which had not happened yet which they needed to find a way to warn Albus off and they had several ideas so far. Hermione left them to create their timeline, the more they knew and plotted it out the better for her. She had already given them all the memories she had of everything she had learned of the First war. She had her own mission. They arrived with nothing but the clothes on their back and Hadrian’s invisibility cloak which she assumed was some sort joke from Death.

They all needed an entirely new closet. They needed robes, muggle clothes, shoes, accessories and everything in between. They needed their school supplies as well as things for their rooms. The house was incredibly beautiful but expect for furniture here and there, there was nothing in the house, not even curtains.

She had already been given a list of everything each room needed and she went to Diagon Alley to buy everything that she needed however there was only one problem. She couldn’t walk for long nor could she carry her bags. She huffed in anger, staring at her hands which were shaking. There was so much to do before Hogwarts and she couldn’t even shop for more than an hour on her own. She closed her eyes against the tears of frustration when she heard a voice that she honestly never thought she would hear again saying, “If you’re done having a breakdown can you move? You’re blocking the doorway.”

Hermione opened her eyes and nearly gasped at the shabby looking teen staring at her with an eyebrow raised. His hair was still long, lanky and oily looking. His nose was still terribly hooked and he had not grown into his body yet, still pale and yet there was no aura of quiet power, no confidence, he even walked with his shoulders hunched inwards trying to make himself look smaller. His clothes were shabby, torn and mismatched, everything about him screamed that no one cared and there was a flash of anger in her heart.

This was Severus Snape, the sour Potions Professor who had been wronged by everyone who was supposed to care about him. He had been let down by his parents, grandparent and even the Headmaster. He died a miserable death, staring into the eyes of the only person who had ever loved him, the only person who tried to convince him that he was better than what he was becoming and when she couldn’t save him because he wouldn’t let her, she abandoned him as well. He had no self-confidence, no self-worth and he had lived entirely for someone else, protecting the proof that the only person he had ever cared for had loved someone else but looking at him now, he was just 15 years old and she knew what would happen this year. He would lose Lily but only if he didn’t pull his head out of his arse. He needed to see his own worth, she knew his potential, which was limitless, it just needed to be nurtured. He just needed someone to guide him and Lily couldn’t do it, she was too young, she didn’t understand because she had never known cruelty but Hermione knew she could save him from himself even if he fought her at every step she was going to save him.

She smiled at him and watched as his face immediately become guarded, “What are you doing here?”

Severus pointed to the ‘Help Wanted’ sign, “I was trying to get a summer job however no one is willing to hire me.”

Hermione bit her lip and then it hit her, Severus had been poor so it would only make sense that at some point he tried to earn a little more money, but no one ever bothered to hire him. She knew that, he once told her that his summers were spent wondering around the magical and muggle world but she never realized that he had been searching for someone to give him work probably so that he could get better supplies and clothes which would have done wonders for his self-esteem.

“I’ll hire you.”

Severus stared at the witch in front of him. She looked rich so she was probably a pureblood but what on earth could she possibly want with him. Whatever she wanted him to do would probably be humiliating and pay poorly but even a few galleons would be better than nothing he knew that but he was still hesitant to trust her word.

“I’ll pay you a 100 galleons a day. 50 now and 50 when the day is over.”

Severus felt his jaw drop, that was a fortune so she was definitely rich so he had to ask, “What will I have to do?”

The girl smiled softly, “Its not that hard. I need you to carry the bags and let me lean on you. You might have to buy me something to drink now and then but honestly I just need help with the shopping.”

Severus raised both eyebrows, “Why would you need help like that?”

The girl laughed at him and held out her hand, “My name is Hermione Peverell and I was held under the  
Cruciatus. My muscles are weak and I cannot walk alone for long nor can I carry much, I’m hoping it gets better by the time school starts.”

Severus stared at the girl in shock, she was such a tiny thing the thought of her being held under that type of torture made him angry and she was still obviously suffering from the effects. He immediately took the bag from her hand and guided her to a bench to rest.

“My name is Severus Snape.”

She smiled brightly at him again and said, “My brothers have so much to do I offered to do all the shopping but there is so much to do and I cannot be out for long so are you willing to take the job Mr. Snape?”

Severus nodded his head and she gave him 50 galleons which was more money than he had ever held at one time and she pointed, “I’m getting all the curtains and beddings today. Tomorrow I shall do the carpets. Will you be able to accompany me once more? I’ll pay you the same wage. Its utterly boring and my brothers cannot do it nor would I trust them do get what we need but they have their own things to do.”

She was offering him another 100 galleons! That would be enough to cover new robes and new textbooks for the year with extra left over. If he was clever he might be able to stretch the few galleons for all Hogsmead weekends that year. He never went because he could never afford anything and his pride refused to let Lily pay.

“I shall accompany you as much as you wish Miss Peverell.” He replied quickly not wanting her to change her mind.

She smiled at him and linked their arms together so she could lean on him, “Please call me Hermione. I will be going to Hogwarts when summer ends I would like to at least have a friend.”

Severus was shocked that she was willing to offer him friendship, no one ever bothered with him so he smiled as best he could, Lily would like it that he finally had another friend.

“Call me Severus then. What year will you be in?”

Hermione made small talk with him for a while longer. They discussed Hogwarts, the house system, the subjects everything. He even told her of Lily and then he told her of the marauders and their pranks and how humiliating they were.

“I think you shouldn’t respond. These boys sound like they get excited when you respond, when they call you names and you respond it gives them reasons to fight back until you duel which is unfair because then its four against one. They keep targeting you because they can make it a show and James can show off to Lily even though she doesn’t like it.”

“Lily said the same thing but my anger gets the better of me.” He replied and Hermione was shocked. She didn’t think that he would confide in her like that but it also gave her an idea.

“Have you ever heard occlumency?” she asked.

“I know what it is but I do not know how it works. The books I have found only gives the bare minimum of how it works.” He answered her and she smiled brightly.

She had found several books in the Ravenclaw vault and one of them explained mind arts better than anything she had ever seen in either time.

“I’ll lend this to you. It will teach you how to shield your mind and control your anger. Be the better man Severus and eventually they’ll get bored. I also found that these exercises can prepare you for becoming an animagus.”

She knew that he would want to become one which would lead to him being busier during the year eventually it will be an asset during the war but for now it will keep him out of trouble and working on his shields and his transformation giving him less time to fight with the marauders.

Severus and Hermione met every day for seven days. After the third day he tried to stop her from paying him as he considered her a friend now but she wouldn’t have it. It was still his job to help her around and so she would pay him until all the shopping was done. She only shopped for about three hours afterwards he went to the park and met up with Lily. He told her about his new friend and she was very happy for him especially since he met the girl he was acting more and more like the old Severus, the one from before Hogwarts when he was full of wonder and ambition and not weighed down by hatred and anger. It lifted a burden she had been carrying for so long she hoped it carried on to Hogwarts.

The last thing she got was their clothes, robes for three boys and herself. Then she dragged him to the muggle world and bought clothes there as well. She got him to try on several things and then bought it for him simply saying that if he didn’t wear it she would put it in the bin and that would be the waste of money. Then she dragged him to the barber and order the elderly man to cut those lanky locks off. The old man had laughed when Severus tried to run for his life but instead of getting angry and turned her green eyes on him and allowed them to fill with tears and the elderly man laughed as Severus sat down and allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

“Ah, young love, how I remember how quickly I ran to accommodate my Helena when she started to cry.” Then the poor man laughed even more at the two teenagers blushing faces as they both avoided eye contact with each other and him.

Severus with short hair made her smile. His hair looked so much better when it was cropped short but he was also unable to hide behind it. She walked him to the park when she turned to him and hit him with a spell and then she smiled.

“I always wondered why you never just did that instead of leaving it like that.”

She conjured up a mirror to show him that she fixed his nose. His father had broken it when he was young and it healed wrong. She fixed it. It wasn’t hooked and it was smaller, more proportionate to his face without his nose taking up all the space you could see his eyes, the dark black opal color which Hermione had always found beautiful even when he hated her.

He hugged her to thank her. She had made everything so much better in just one week and she smiled, “Just because I’m done shopping doesn’t mean we can’t meet. I’ll pick you up here tomorrow same time as always. You can visit my home bring Lily as well if you want.”

Edited 20/11/2018


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Severus waited for Lily in the park after Hermione had left. When Lily finally made it to their meeting spot she all but fell onto the grass and started pulling out books and immediately started babbling.

“Sev, you would never believe how horrible Petunia is acting and she recently found herself a boyfriend. A fat lug that was so utterly boring and normal I nearly wanted to claw my eyes out or just do some magic just to see what colour he would turn when he saw it.”

Lily stopped talking and stared. Severus looked different. Lily always knew that her friends never understood why she hung out with Severus but none of them ever really understood her. Severus had been the only one who made her feel normal especially when Petunia had started to pull away from her. He was always there to make her feel better, telling her about magic and he made her feel like she was part of something wonderful. She knew that he wasn’t handsome in the classical sense like Potter, Black or even Malfoy. They all were tossers but even she could admit that they looked handsome.

She knew Severus didn’t have a good home life, she knew he was poor and that he didn’t take very good care of himself but she never pitied him no pitying him would have probably had the proud boy tossing her into the pond in the park. Severus had very little which was the reason why he was so possessive over everything that he did have but she also knew that he was proud. He would never ask for help but always felt that he had to earn what was given to him and those were qualities that she admired about him. He might have hated his situation but he never begged nor pleaded. He chose to bear with what little he had and she knew that he went searching for job since the summer of second year always trying to earn what he needed and she knew that didn’t have any luck but today seeing him like this Lily saw a whole new side to her best friend.

Severus was already standing taller a little more confident in himself without the long lanky hair always hiding his face and falling into his eyes he looked older and it didn’t make him seem dirty. She knew that he bathed every day he always smelt like soap but she also knew that his silky hair made him look unhygienic and dirty with his hair that short, he looked cleaner, he was still pale but it was his nose that shocked her the most. For as long as Lily had known Severus his nose had been large and hooked and today it was normal, smaller and no longer hooked and she could see his eyes.

Severus had always told her how beautiful her green eyes were but Lily had secretly always adored his eyes. Severus’s eyes were not brown but rather they were black at first glance. They reminded her of the an opal jewel and if he looked up at the sun she would swear that she saw hints of purple and knew that his eyes were not black or brown but a very dark purple which looked black. She was sure if he had daughter she would have pretty purple eyes, a lighter shade of her his intense purple shade. Severus Snape was not as handsome as Potter, Black or Malfoy but he wasn’t ugly either no one could ever call him ugly anymore. He was handsome in a stern slightly dangerous way but then again no one in the muggle neighborhood that they lived in crossed Lily Evans because she was friends with Severus Snape and they all knew how dangerous that boy could be after all he lived in the worst part of town and he thrived in it.

Severus looked at Lily slightly unnerved and wondered if the new look was really as that bad. He thought it made him look better, less like a beggar’s child and more normal. The clothes were new to nothing incredibly fancy, just black jeans and a black sweater. His boots were new as well and they actually fit him well. None of the things he wore were name brand but they were all new and they all fit him right so he thought it was a good upgrade considering the mess he usually looked like.

Severus couldn’t help but be extremely grateful that he had met Hermione Peverell. She was incredibly beautiful but she was also very smart. They debated potions and spells and all types of theories. She took her time and explained several Transfiguration theories to him which helped him more than she knew. His worst subject was Transfiguration and he hoped that he could improve which he needed to do if he wanted to become an animagus. He had already begun the meditations but it would take a long time before he was ready to try changing part of his body.

The occlumency part was going extremely well. He always had a very ordered mind and with the book he had already begun to control his emotions which usually were really hard for him especially when he was in front of Potter and Black but talking with Hermione he realized how childish he was being and how he added to fuel to the fire. Those boys were nothing privileged idiots and they never worked a day in their life for anything and that wasn’t his problem. He needed to grow up at some point and he no longer had time to deal with their tantrums at Lily being his friend. Lily was her own person and she was free to do as she pleased neither Potter, Black or even himself had the right to demand anything of her. She was free to associate with whoever she pleased and that included the marauders or Slytherins.

“You look really good Sev. The new look really suits you.” Lily broke his train of thoughts and Severus realized that he owed Lily something.

“I’m sorry Lily.” He said and Lily just looked lost.

“For what Sev?” she asked and Severus sighed and sat down beside her.

“I haven’t been a good friend to you lately especially this last year. You kept telling me that Avery wasn’t a good influence and I knew you were right Lily I just didn’t want to admit it.”

Lily took a deep breath and prayed that they wouldn’t end up fighting when she asked, “If you knew I was right then why didn’t you want to admit it? I need to understand Sev.”

Severus started playing with the grass not being able to meet her eyes, “They made me feel important Lily. The marauders were being them, you were busy with your other friends and I just wanted to feel important. I was jealous of everything that Potter and Black had, they were born lucky and I was bitter.”

Lily knew it was true. She knew that he hated them because of everything that they had, she saw him look jealously while they flaunted their money around and she knew that Severus would never accept handouts. They made it worse when they mocked him for having so little and she knew that he was bitter. She always hoped that somehow he would overcome it and it seemed like something had really changed in the past week.

“I met a girl Lily. Her name is Hermione and she was held under the Cruciatus curse. She couldn’t walk on her own for long neither could she carry her own bags. She offered me a job. She asked me to accompany her every day and help her and she paid me 100 galleons.”

Lily felt her jaw drop. 100 galleons was a lot of money. When she got new robes every year she usually spent at least 20 galleons on her robes. Severus probably made enough money to get some robes and new books even better quills. Lily shook her head and nodded at Severus to continue as he stopped talking when she stopped paying attention.

“We spoke a lot and I told her about Hogwarts. She’s starting fifth year in September so I told her about Hogwarts and the houses and everything and we spoke about the marauders and she made me realize that I’m being no better than Potter and Black. I never believed in blood purity and my best friend is a muggleborn and I can’t pick and choose. When I join Avery and his gang they pick on muggleborns its no better than them picking on me for being in Slytherin and by joining them I’m proving everybody right. That I’m nothing but a wanna be death eater and I don’t want to be that person. That person scares me.”

Lily actually started to cry because she was so relieved. Lily had never really known how afraid she was of losing Severus down that dark path that she could not travel until he admitted how scared he was of the person he was becoming. She threw herself into his arms and noticed that he was absolutely out of his depth. Severus never really dealt well with crying girls and this was something that he had no idea what to do so he just returned the hug and waited.

“I was so scared I was going to lose you. Everyone was telling me to just stop trying and let you be but I knew that you weren’t that hate filled boy that they thought you were. I just hoped that you would find yourself before you were gone forever.”

Severus sighed and said, “I can’t promise I won’t make mistakes Lily. They are my dorm mates I can’t exactly sleep in an abandoned classroom but I will promise you that I will try to distance myself and I won’t hurt anyone anymore.”

The two friends spent more time talking about everything and he told her more and more about Hermione and then he extended the invite to visit her home tomorrow and Lily agreed to go. She really wanted to meet the person that calmly reminded Severus of who he truly was and Lily wanted to thank her for somehow finding a way to guide Severus out of his own mind which had been so filled with hatred and bitterness that he was losing himself to it.

Lily was wearing a pretty white summer dress and sandals while Severus wore his new jeans, boots and a slightly dressy looking shirt and he blushed slightly when Lily raised an eyebrow at him. Hermione appeared wearing a muggle dress as well. The dress was a deep blue and it had sleeves to her elbows and ended just above her knees. Her hair was in a braid and she smiled brightly at Severus when she saw him and gave him a hug. Severus introduced the two girls and Hermione once more took out a locket with a rose pendent. She told them that it was the Peverell coat of arms and she muttered a password and they were port keyed away.

Lily stumbled, tripped over the carpet and skidded onto the tiles and clashed head on with Draco. The two teenagers landed in a heap of arms and legs while Hadrian skidded to a stop and Neville calmly walked down the stair case.

Severus stared wide eyed at the three boys and glanced at Hermione who started giggling, “I never thought I would see the day that there was someone worse than Hadrian when using magical transportation.”

Draco opened his eyes and saw red, and it was the prettiest red he had ever seen in his life. He squeezed the soft thing that was in his left hand before realizing what that was and almost broke his arm trying to stop feeling it.

Lily was blushing bright red and normally she would have gone off on whoever had dared but it was obvious that the poor boy didn’t mean too especially since he all but threw himself off her.

“I am so sorry Miss Evans. My brother and I were being idiots and I didn’t see you.”

The boy offered her a hand and she smiled brightly at him as he helped her up.

“Its alright. It wasn’t your fault. I didn’t know I would be that terrible at port keying it seemed so simple.”

Draco smiled and laughed with her, “You should see Hadrian. The floo hates him and he always lands on his face but he is a demon on a broom. Forgive me I am Draco Peverell. That one is Hadrian and the one at the bottom of the stairs is Neville.”

The two boys shook hands with them both and then Neville excused himself, “It was nice meeting you but I have paperwork to complete. Have fun with your friends Mia and call if you need anything.”

Draco and Severus got into a potions debate and for a little while Hermione and Lily tried to follow until the two girls gave up all hope and Hermione sent them to Draco’s lab to experiment.

Hadrian was flying outside so Hermione took her to watch while the two girls chatted about silly things. Hermione explained the reason for their different backgrounds.

“It was really hard at first, having three brothers all of which were all so different. Hadrian had no self-preservation, Neville had no self-worth and Draco had his head so far up his ass it wasn’t funny. He knew at the back of his mind that the views they tried to beat into were wrong but he struggled with who he thought he should be and who he wanted to be. It helped that our mother was muggleborn. It took a lot time, effort and fighting to get the way we are now.”

Lily watched Hadrian in the sky and confessed, “Flying always looked so beautiful but I was so terrified of falling that I never properly learned how to do it. When I was in third year Fabian Prewett was in fifth year, he offered to give me lessons and Potter pranked him and started a prank with him and his brother and no one was willing to teach me ever again. I was so angry especially because I really wanted to learn.”

Hermione got an idea and signaled for Hadrian to come down.

“Hadrian Lily wants to learn how to fly.”

Hadrian immediately placed his broom on the ground and said, “Its much safer than the school brooms and Hermione just got it for me so its brand new. Common I’ll teach you.”

Lily was shocked at how easily he offered her the broom and then he noticed the dress and called for Solly, “Solly would you please bring Miss Evans a pair of Hermione’s tights. The long ones that they put under the dress.”

Solly smiled brightly and disappeared with a pop.

Hermione saw the look of shock on Lily’s face and said, “Have you never seen a house elf?”

Lily shook her head, “I read about them but I never actually seen one.”

Hadrian smiled at Lily, “House elves rock. They are very powerful even though many pureblood abuse their loyalty. They want nothing more than to serve and cook and clean but many abuse them. We treat our elves like part of the family because they are. They take care of us so we take care of them.”

Lily smiled at their obvious care towards others. The house elf returned and handed her a pair of tights and Hermione gestured for them to go into the next room so she could put it on.

Hadrian taught her how to call the broom and then he went up with her as she slowly started to get the hang of flying by herself. Hermione gave them both the thumbs up sign and then she released the snitch and they both dived after it. Lily came really close to catching it and when they finally came down she started gushing about how fun it was to play. Hadrian wondered if he could turn her into a seeker.

The six of them ate lunch together and then Severus and Lily went back home before it got too late. Hermione told them both to write to her and that they could both visit whenever they wanted and the two promised to do so.

When Lily left Hermione turned to Hadrian and asked, “How was it meeting her for the first time?”

Hadrian shook his head, “She isn’t my mother Hermione. She is a beautiful teenager that looks a lot like her but she isn’t the same. I like her, she is kind and she is eager to learn things and explore the world but that’s the thing. She has so much to look forward too. She is however a really amazing person and I hope to call her friend.”

Hadrian went upstairs to shower and she looked at Draco and Neville and asked, “Do you think he is being honest or is just trying to spare our feelings.”

Neville shook his head, “I don’t think he would lie. When we got to Hogwarts we are going to spend a lot of time around people who look a lot like our dead friends and family. He knows he can’t hide that.”

“I met my father two days ago Hermione.” Said Draco and Hermione gaped at him in shock waiting for him to continue.

Draco sighed and said, “I went to pick up some alchemy tools and I bumped into him at one of the stores and I didn’t recognize him anymore. When magical children are born we are able to sense our parents magic.”

Looking at both Neville and Hermione’s expression he realized that they didn’t know what he was talking about and he gestured for them to sit down.

“Nev didn’t grow up around his parents and Mia your parents were not magical so you wouldn’t understand. Every person’s magic is different, its specific to each person like a fingerprint when a child is born and they have magical parents they are familiar with the magic. Its like breathing or when a mother knows that her child is in danger or how a child just knows their parent, your innate magic recognizes your parent. Nev must have felt something when he went to visit his mom at the hospital.”

Neville nodded his head slowly, “I always knew where she was as soon as I stepped inside. I never needed a guide to find her.”

“The connection would have been stronger if she was stronger and that connection between the parent and child, the connection from magic that recognizes each other as mother and son or even father and son is no longer there. They took it away like they said. If we had come using a time turner or spell or whatever the connection would have been there, Lily would have felt like she knew Hadrian and Hadrian would seek out love and acceptance from his mother but we are no longer their children. The connection is no longer between us, they are now just normal people who we have recently begun to befriend. That’s what they meant by they look similar but Lily has already changed. Lily Evans never played catch the snitch and now she had and she enjoyed it with some practice she might even try out for the team.”

Hermione nodded slowly and replied, “So that means that Hadrian doesn’t see his mother just someone who looks like her.”

Draco shrugged, “He could be looking at her learning how to play and be reminded of Ginny for all we know. Hadrian never really knew his parents only what people told them about him and without the connection of their magic she is honestly just another girl to him, one that he had befriended.”

Hermione smiled at them and nodded, she was relieved because they had no idea what this future held and the more time they spent here, meeting people and influencing them the more things would change the last thing they needed was Hadrian to try to find a family in people who were not even married yet and there was a chance that they never would get married. Hermione closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace for now, today was a good day and there was still two and a half months of summer left for them to enjoy before diving back into Hogwarts.

Edited 20/11/2018


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Hadrian and Draco had taken two weeks to complete their map of the timeline. They documented everything that happened and everyone that they had known died from the year 1975 up until the year 1981 when Lily and James Potter originally died.

The two boys knew that Hermione was pulling Severus into her life and winding herself the boy so that he would keep on the right path with her acting as his guide while Lily would come over every second day and usually it was Hadrian who taught her how to fly, he was currently busy combing through the werewolf laws which were passed back in the year 1895 using the Peverell seats to discriminate against them so Draco was teaching her how to fly and spending a lot of time with the pretty witch.

Hadrian was currently dealing with how to present it to the other politicians and gathering all his facts and figures. There was a session just before school would open and they needed to re-appeal all their laws in that time. Hadrian would be voting in the Slytherin, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw proxy votes anonymously since they were not yet ready to deal with that drama of those titles being known to the public. They would come out with those titles after the war.

Neville was with him looking over the time line and asked him, “How exactly are you going to pass information to Dumbledore?”

Hadrian smirked, showing his Slytherin side and said, “I was thinking of showing up to one of the Order meetings in my animagus form.”

The four siblings had all become animagi during their time on the run and it saved their asses more times than they could count. Neville was a tiger, Draco was a snake, Hermione was a cat but Hadrian was a phoenix, a beautiful black phoenix with green eyes and red feathers hidden in the black.

Neville nodded his head, “Sounds like a good idea but what are you going to do? Show up in a ball of flames land on someone and flame them away again?”

Hadrian smiled sheepishly, “Taking a note would be too dangerous. We don’t want them to go looking for a death eater that suddenly had a change of heart and decided to pass information. Someone might take advantage of that.”

Neville nodded his head, “I see your point about it being too dangerous but you also can’t just flame them away. You might get one of them killed if they aren’t ready. Could you try talking to Fawkes? He might be able to communicate with the Headmaster.”

Hadrian nearly face-palmed, Fawkes would be able to help them. He was sure he would be able to talk to the Phoenix in his animagus form and it would ensure that they trusted him more especially since he would show up as a symbol for the light.

Neville hummed for a second and then said, “Why don’t you go visit tonight? Fly to Hogwarts and talk to Fawkes and then leave. Maybe if the Headmaster gets used of seeing another Phoenix around he would trust you more. It would also be a sort of test so we know if we need a new plan.”

That night Hadrian flew to Hogwarts and scratched on the Headmaster’s window until the old man opened it. Albus was talking with Minerva McGonagall and Alastor Moody about the next school year and the coming war when there was a racket outside his window.

Fawkes woke up and started singing happily and when no one answered the window tapping he started flying around impatiently and knocked on the window as well, demanding it be opened.

“Ordered around by a bloody bird really Albus.” Huffed Moody.

Albus laughed and replied, “Fawkes is a phoenix he is here because he wants to be and he knows more than he tells. If he asks for something done then there is always a reason old friend.”

A ball of black red barreled into the red bird and they both tumbled onto the Headmasters desk. They were both singing and with the younger bird being tucked under the older ones wing.

“Well hello there new friend. Are you here to stay?” asked Albus.

Minerva looked at the younger Phoenix in shock, “Why would he come here Albus? You already have a familiar.”

Albus just chuckled, “He will not stay. He came to visit Fawkes and introduce himself. His name is Hades.”

Moody frowned, “Did the bird tell you that?”

Albus shook his head, “Fawkes told me. He is here to visit and will leave. Whether he returns or not I cannot say.”

Moody rolled his eyes and when he moved to leave the bird hopped onto his shoulder and peered at him. “Albus why is the bird looking at me?” asked Moody.

Hadrian had never seen Moody look so human. He still had both eyes and both legs he was also less scarred and he owed his life to the paranoid auror. He had taught him so much and he had died as well, he felt like he owed him and so he gave Moody the only thing he could in this form, a way to save himself or someone he considered worthy, maybe the man wouldn’t be so damaged by the end of the war this time. His tears were just as powerful as a regular phoenix.

Albus noticed the birds eyes begin to water and immediately conjured a vial and held it out to his friend, “He has not deemed me worthy of his tears, you must collect it.” He said quickly.

The auror held the vial to the bird and was shocked when the bird gave him six drops of tears and went back to cuddling Fawkes.

“What should I do with it?” he asked Albus.

A Phoenix rarely ever gifts anyone with tears and when they do its never more than two but you have been given six. Keep it with you at all times and tell no one of what it is. Hades believes you will need it.”

Moody looked strangely at the bird knowing of how powerful the tears were especially if someone needed healing. He would not be foolish, if the bird thought he needed it then he probably would and he was going to keep the vial with him at all times. He thanked the bird quietly and left the office before he could be any later for his shift.

Hadrian zoned out for a while and then he heard Minerva shout and looked up to see what the fight was about.

“You let those marauders get away with murder Albus and I’m telling you that you will regret it. They have to held accountable for their actions and you never allow it.”

“Now Minerva they are just boys. Its all in good fun.”

Hades huffed and immediately flew up and cuffed the man on his head with his wing and Minerva smirked in victory.

“Even Hades agrees with me. Its not fair to the other students Albus, sometimes the things they do are mean and out of control. It could be considered bullying and what will it take to get you to admit that they go too far. Will you wait until they kill Severus Snape and you know I’m not wrong? Their pranks towards that boy are getting dangerous.”

Albus once more tried to get her to understand that they wouldn’t when Hades hit him again and pulled on his beard towards the pensive.

“You want me to view a memory of the marauders pranks?”

The bird nodded and Minerva stopped him, “You will not be looking through your rose coloured lenses Albus, see through my memories.”

They were in the pensive for a long time until Albus came out looking old and worn. “Why didn’t I see it? The looks of disgust from the Slytherins, the looks of loathing and betrayal from Snape.”

Minerva shook her head sadly at him, “You are a good man Albus and you desperately want to believe in the good of people but the truth is that children can be mean. You were popular in school but I was not. I was popular in later years but in my first three years I was on the end of some bullying and I know how hard it is but we cannot condone this any longer. I know you don’t want to push the Heir Potter and Black away but you cannot isolate one fourth of the school for two people. Remus Lupin cannot be the fifth year prefect, he doesn’t stop them and a badge will not help in fact it would make it worse.”

“There are no other fifth year Gryffindor boys to be prefects this year Minerva.”

“Then we shall choose two girls. It hasn’t happened in some time but we shall choose two female prefects this year.”

Hadrian flew away without sticking around to hear the rest of the conversation when he landed his siblings were waiting. He explained everything that happened and then he said, “I don’t get why it was so easy to get him to see what they were doing was wrong. He saw it every day for seven years.”

Hermione sighed, “Dumbledore likes to believe in the good of people Hadrian. He probably never paid a lot of attention to the other people only looking at the people laughing and having fun without understanding the humiliation and how it eats at someone’s self-worth. He was popular he doesn’t understand what its like to be bullied and the consequences of those feelings. Professor McGonagall probably forced him to see things how she saw it. She forced him to see the other side.”

Neville nodded but Draco sighed, “This changes things already. Lupin was supposed to be a prefect but he isn’t anymore and Dumbledore is looking at them differently probably going to punish them more severely. We don’t know how that changes the time line.”

Neville shrugged, “Hogwarts was always going to change. We assured that with just our presence. We know the diadem is in Hogwarts, the ring is in the Gaunt shack, the dairy was given to Abraxas Malfoy when Tom Riddle went off to research, the cup was given to Bellatrix Lestrange as a wedding present which she placed in her vault and the locket was hidden in the cave. We can start collecting the horcruxes next year for now leave them where they are in case he checks up on them. If we manage to save Regulus the only thing that changes is which house elf he uses to get to the cave. We just have to figure out what happens next on our own. Our plans are already in place.”

The siblings nodded to each other and they all went back to their projects. Severus and Hermione were working on several new spells to combat the dark curses which she knew had no cure not even in their time. His interest in Dark Arts would always be there but when Lily saw how they broke down the dark curses and created new spells to undo the damage she couldn’t find it in herself to have them stop after all one cannot fight against what they do not know.

Draco and Lily spent their time either flying or experimenting with potions and charms. Lily and Severus spent a lot of time devouring the books and learning everything they could. The four siblings had become good friends with the two friends and included them into their group effortlessly.

The summer passed with flying, experimenting, plotting and everything else in between until they needed to go shopping for Hogwarts. There were about five days left until school opened once more and then they would finally return to Hogwarts, a place that was once a home, a sanctuary and eventually the castle  too had fallen. They all had many fixed feelings about going back but they all knew that they would have to go back, their plans depended on it.

Hermione still got a few spasms now and then and Hadrian was still walking with his cane but they were both almost completely better when they decided to finally go to Diagon Alley for their supplies. Hadrian was waiting by the floo in the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of them to floo over. He was early since he decided to avoid the evil floo and instead apparated himself here when the floo spit out James Potter and Sirius Black.

The two boys had probably gone into the damned thing fighting and they came out fighting and he somehow managed to get caught up in the middle of it. Hadrian landed on the bottom, with Sirius on top of him and James on top of both of them.

Hadrian sighed, he wasn’t even the one who came out of the blasted thing and it was still out to get him.

James Potter readjusted his glasses when a dark haired, green eyed boy elegantly landed in the floo and exited it without a single hair out of place. The stranger looked around the bar in confusion when turned back to the floo and waited probably for someone else to come through. There was a shout and a girl came flying out of the floo and landed next to him on the floor. She was wearing robes and her red her was splayed out behind her and James immediately realized she was Lily Evans the love of his life.

“Lily-flower don’t worry I’ll help you.” James shouted and several people looked over and he could hear Padfoot sigh. He was about to say something else when a hand cut in front of him, reached down and pulled Lily to her feet.

The boy immediately turned her around and ran his fingers through her hair and began braiding it quickly. When he was done he waved his hand and cleaned her robes and he said, “Three months and you still can’t floo properly. Hadrian never managed to get spit out of the floo. How could you manage a landing that horrible?”

James watched as his jaw dropped as Lily rubbed some soot off the strangers cheek that probably got there from her hair and replied, “I guess I just need more practice.”

Another boy who looked a lot like the boy with his paws over his Lily-flower appeared and sighed, “If the two of you are done flirting can someone tell me what happened to Hadrian? Did he manage to get lost in the floo again?”

Remus was quietly watching James gape at Evans and Sirius seemed to be comfortable on the floor and watching what seemed to be a train wreck in the making when they all heard a muffled sound.

“I was twelve and mispronounced the place and could someone get this bloody mutt off of me, I can’t breathe.”

The boy near the floo who no one noticed had arrived face-palmed while the boy holding Lily rolled his eyes and muttered, “You didn’t even use the floo and it still managed to injure you.”

Lily rolled her eyes and said, “Black would you get off of my friend before you suffocate him?”

Sirius leaped to his feet and muttered apologies, barely keeping from blushing as he realized that the other boy would probably be cuddling him on his lap if his hands were not trapped underneath him.

Hadrian got to his feet, picked up his cane and leaned on it heavily and Lily immediately noticed, “Did those idiots manage to injure you Hadrian you’re leaning quiet heavily on your cane?”

Hadrian rolled his eyes at her, “Just knocked the wind out of me. I’m fine in another month the cane will be gone as well. Where is Mia? I swear if those two are snogging somewhere I’ll kill him.”

Lily giggled and rolled her eyes, “Please, those two are so oblivious to the sexual tension in the room they aren’t getting together until next year summer.”

One of the boys muttered to Hadrian not realizing that James, Sirius and Remus could hear them and said, “If those two are oblivious then those two are bloody blind.”

Hadrian chuckled, “5 galleons he figures out by New Year.”

The other shook his head, “Nah, 5 galleons she gets sick of waiting and kisses him before New Year.”

Hadrian nodded and they shook hands, “You’re on.”

James was nearly purple in rage until the floo opened up again and this time a girl came out with someone who looked familiar.

Sirius looked at the boy and the fact that he was holding the girls hand in horror and he said, “Snivellus?”

Severus had been smiling until he heard that horrid name and he felt Hermione stiffen next to him, before he could reply she did.

“No Severus as in Severus Snape who is here accompanying my siblings and I. The one that you were trying to snuggle is Hadrian Peverell, next to him is Neville Peverell and holding Lily is Draco Peverell. Dray why are you holding Lily?”

Draco blushed and quickly let go, “I was braiding her hair, they had an accident with the floo.”

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked towards the marauders who were missing a member, “I am Hermione. I would say it was nice meeting you boys but it wasn’t and Mr. Black can you please stop eye fucking my brother in public? Not only am I aware of your bed hopping but I also know very well of what a bully you are and my brother is more likely to duel you than fuck you. He doesn’t go for pathetic little boys who have to tear down other people to make themselves look better but then again your family Black like tearing down anyone whose blood status they don’t like so we shouldn’t be surprised by the Black that tears down Slytherins and anyone he doesn’t like just because he has the power to do so, your mother must be so proud.”

Hermione guided the group outside and hoped that Sirius understood what she was trying to tell him. In his teenage years and his desperate rebellion Sirius Black still managed to become everything he hated instead of being like dear cousin Bella who tortured muggleborns, he tore down Slytherins. He became so desperate to prove he was against everything dark that he made it his life’s mission to make the Slytherins miserable.

Hermione would never take it back because the truth was that if his mother had known how he tortured and humiliated those he considered his enemies she would have been very proud of him. She did however feel bad, it was their first meeting and she tore into him mercilessly but she couldn't bring herself to regret it. Sirius needed to hear the truth and he needed to grow up, the truth was an ugly, cold, cruel thing and there was nothing she could do. He had to face up the consequences of his actions and he needed to do it sooner rather than later.

Sirius Black on the other hand wanted to slap his hand over his ears and deny the truth but he couldn’t do it because once the truth was out there was nothing that could be done. It rang in ears, a deafening sound and he knew that the girl was right. He knew that if his mother knew how he treated those that he considered enemies then she would have been proud of him and suddenly everything that he was doing to prove that he wasn’t like his family went up in flames because he was exactly like them, cruel and merciless to those who were weaker than him. Sirius Black had never been more ashamed and the truth had come from a stranger, a stranger that knew him better than he knew himself.

James desperately tried to get him to believe that what the witch said wasn’t true, that she was wrong, he even offered to prank her and Sirius wondered how blind James possibly be and how long was he going to play ignorant. He even started thinking up pranks for Draco Peverell because he touched his precious Lily-flower and when he heard that bloody nickname Sirius nearly decked him.

“She isn’t yours Prongs.” Said Sirius. It was the first time one of his friends had ever told James the truth, not what he wanted to hear but that he couldn't  just claim someone because he wanted them. It was the first time that Sirius actually went against him instead of encouraging him.

Sirius never really liked Lily Evans and he didn’t  know why James was so hung up on her, she was pretty but she was never nice to him, always telling him what a terrible person he was and she was friends with a snake but now with everything that he had just heard he just wanted James to stop with his obsession with Evans and pick someone else, anyone else, someone that actually cared about him too.

“She’ll come around Padfoot you know she will.” He replied but he seemed less sure but Sirius knew that this was going to hurt and that it was time they went home. They flooed to Potter manor and Sirius looked at his friend and sighed.

“She won’t James. Lily Evans hates you. She tells you every day that you shouldn’t talk to her that you are nothing to her but an arrogant bullying toe rag and she would rather date the giant squid than date you and she isn’t bluffing. She hates when you bring attention to her, it embarrasses her and she doesn’t like you.”

Sirius was trying not to say anything bad about her, James wouldn't  listen instead he would try to defend her so he tried to make James understand why she didn't like him and hope that the stubborn ass finally left well enough alone.

James tried to tell him that she would come around and Sirius asked him, “Would you go out with someone who calls me names, puts potions in my food, embarrasses me at every opportunity?”

James looked horrified at him as he said no and Sirius asked him, “If you won’t then why should Lily Evans date the boy that bullies her best friend? Severus Snape has known her since before Hogwarts and you constantly belittle him that’s why she hates you.”

James looked like a lost little boy when everything had been pointed out to him like that and for once in his life he didn’t know what to say. Sirius didn't like Snape but he could understand that Evans was loyal to her friends and she considered Snape her friend.

Remus watched as James Potter finally took a look in the mirror and for the first time he didn’t like what he saw in fact he was actually ashamed of the person he was. If that was how Lily had seen him how did other people see him? Was he popular because people liked him or was he popular because no one wanted to get pranked by them?

Potter manor was quiet for the first time in a long time Fleamont and Euphemia Potter watched their sons and his friends eat dinner quietly none of them saying a word and wondered what had happened in a single day to make such a drastic change in them.

Later on James and Sirius spoke to them and told them of what happened and Euphemia looked so disappointed at them.

“We always spoiled you James, especially since we had you so late, you were our miracle but we never realized that the lack of barriers had made you believe that you were somehow entitled to whatever you wanted but it seems like you’ve gotten your wake up call. You cannot undo the mistakes of the past children all you can do is realize your faults and try to do better.”

The two boys silently agreed to try and be better, even though James was once so sure that he was destined to marry Lily he decided to leave her alone for a while. He had already blown his chance with her maybe someday they could be friends but for now the two boys needed more self-control.

Fleamont gave Sirius a book on occlumency, “The Black family has always had temper problems. This will help you control your emotions and your actions, less recklessness and more thinking about the consequences of your actions.”

Sirius quietly thanked the man and went to bed dreaming of green eyes.

Edited 22/11/2018


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my explanation of divination I used a combination of what very little knowledge I have on medation and what I believed Divination could be used for. Its completely made up.

Chapter 5

Neville Peverell was exhausted. The past summer had been exhausting going through four gutted houses sorting through the financials, properties and the laws which were passed via proxy without permission had taken over two months. The only breaks he had gotten were when Lily and Severus were around.

Severus Snape had once terrified him, the man was even his boggart at one point in his life but looking at his younger self, the nearly fifteen year old boy was nothing like the man he had once known. He was no longer weighed down by guilt and sorrow nor was he angry and bitter. His tongue was still sharp but then again he wouldn’t be Severus if he didn’t have a biting tongue but the best part about watching him was watching him gravitate around Hermione.

They were both so bloody blind and Neville knew that Hermione was probably holding herself back a little. Her first love would always be Ron Weasley and he had died, when he died Hermione had turned cold and ruthless and as time passed and their situation grew to be more hopeless she just seemed to bury the pain until he became just another lost friend.

None of them were strangers to pain they had each lost their family and everyone they had ever loved in that godforsaken war but now he had to wonder had any of them dealt with the grief? Would returning to Hogwarts tomorrow open up wounds that they believed to be closed? Was it even fair of them to be so happy in these times?

“You’re thinking so hard I can hear you Neville.”

Neville turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway of his office with an eyebrow raised and her expression basically screamed ‘what are you thinking?’

Neville gave her a half-hearted smile and he knew that he couldn’t lie to her. At one point in their lives they had both been the Gryffindor outcasts. Those first few lonely months Hermione had been his only friend or at least sort of friend. They sat next to each other and did homework together sometimes then she got attacked by a troll and became attached to hip of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. It hadn't been much of a friendship but there was a time when they were the only friends they had. 

“Are we really ready for this?” he asked her.

Hermione joined him, looking out at the window and at the stars in the sky, everything here seemed so much more peaceful than they were accustomed too sometimes they each woke up screaming at different times in the night and she knew just how much more he was actually asking her.

“None of us have forgotten the past Nev. I don’t think that we will ever really be able to forget but the ones that love us never really leave us. We had so much to do all summer that we never stopped to just breathe and think and now on the eve of our return time is all we have to think.”

Neville drew her into his arms and said, “It was nice though, being normal for a little while, not running for lives but just eating, sleeping and recovering. We even made some friends. It was like we were just four normal teenagers.”

Hermione gave a dry laugh, “We were never normal Nev. The ‘Golden Trio’ may have been in the middle of all the adventures but the school especially those in our year quickly got used the strange things that happened. We adapted quiet quickly to danger and we survived.”

Neville half chuckled-half sighed and replied, “You do realize that he is half way in love with you already.”

Neville said it as a statement but he knew that she would know what he was talking about and it was up to her what she did with the information but Hermione had never been stupid. She had to know that he looked at her like she was the only person in his world while she looked at him like he hung the moon.

“You always admired his intelligence even when he was our Professor. You may not have liked him and he definitely wasn’t handsome but he was intelligent and witty. He challenged you and you thrived on it and now he still does those things and you still like it.”

Hermione nodded her head, “Do you think Ron would understand?”

Neville smiled at her this time, “Ron would never have understood. He had the emotional range of a teaspoon but he would be happy that you were happy. He never needed to understand just needed to know that you were happy.”

Hermione laughed, she couldn’t believe that he remembered her saying that all those years ago and she said, “We all remember Nev but we can change it. Their parents will grow up and get married and grow old with more than one child and everything will be okay. We will always mourn for those we have lost but we cannot live in the past, we have to work through it.”

Neville nodded his head, “I needed to hear someone say that Mia.”

“The war may not be happening in the exact same way outside but we still remember it. I just choose to focus on the fact that everyone is still alive here because if I try to look for the people I lost in the people here who have never struggled a day in their life I might just pull my hair out.” Said Draco and Hermione giggled.

“At least I wasn’t the only one who was worried about going back to Hogwarts.” Hadrian was leaning next to the door frame listening to Hermione and Neville.

Draco shook his head, “We’re all nervous. It was easy for us to be here at home with Lily and Sev and just forget or work on everything that we’ve been doing an forget about the outside world but we can’t do that anymore.”

Hadrian just sighed and pulled Draco close to him and muttered, “No one ever said it would be easy but nothing is ever easy and we will do what we always do. We endure and then we survive.”

The group slept together in Hadrian’s bed, a puppy pile and reassurance that they were there together and everything was going to be alright. It had been a long time since they had truly prepared for battle, to use masks and lies and to once more face people that looked so much like enemies and friends that had long since passed but as long as they had each other they knew they would be alright. Their time for rest and recovery was over, now they prepared for war.

The Quadruplets were running late. They had overslept and ended up late getting to the train so they shrunk their trunks, stashed it in their pockets and ran for their lives. Once on the train, they immediately set off to find Lily and Sev. Hermione found Sev alone in a compartment reading a book.

“Hey Sev. What happened to Lily?” asked Draco.

Severus gave Hermione the look which basically screamed ‘he fancies her’ and Hermione rolled her eyes at him and waited for him to answer.

“Prefects meeting Draco. She’ll come back later.” He replied.

Severus looked good. His uniform was all new even though it wasn’t anything fancy or expensive it fit him in all the right places and there were no stains, no tears or soddy patchwork. His shoes were polished and new and his trunk was second hand again but a much better quality than his original one all in all he seemed much happier and more at peace with himself.

The boys played exploding snap and ate candy while Sev and Mia debated and read their books until they got to the castle. They rode the carriages up to the castle not willing to take their chances in those tiny boats. They were going to be sorted last, after the first years.

Hermione caught their eyes and nodded her head. They had already planned where they were going to be placed and what they were going to do. Then they heard Professor McGonagall call for them to enter the Great Hall.

“Peverell Neville.”

Neville nodded his head to his siblings and walked up to the hat.

“Gryffindor.” It shouted and the house of lions exploded in applause.

“Peverell Draco.”

Draco confidently walked up to the hat and put it on.

“Slytherin.”

The was dead silence from house of Lions and Neville rolled his eyes and clapped first.

“Peverell Hermione.”

Hermione smiled at Severus and put the hat on.

“Ravenclaw.”

Lily clapped happily for her friend and then they called for Peverell Hadrian.

“Hufflepuff.”

The siblings each sat down at their respective tables and smiled everything went according to plan. It was Hermione’s idea to have each of them in one of the houses especially because Tom recruited people from every house. They needed eyes and ears everywhere.

Hadrian couldn’t go to Slytherin or Gryffindor. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know James Potter as his father but he knew that the marauders would rub him the wrong way. The boys were still young and they were too nosey. If they were always around then they would constantly watch him and Hadrian would be disappointed in them as he knew that they were still immature. He didn’t want to be close to them not yet, he wanted to gradually become their friend not be thrust into their lives but he would probably kill several people from Slytherin without thinking. He could have gone to Ravenclaw but Hermione was a better fit for the house. It was best he go to Hufflepuff where no one would bother him too much. He could also charm his curtains and stalk the Order without nosey roommates keeping a close eye on him.

Draco knew how Slytherin worked best so it was best to put him in it and Neville would be able to get the marauders on a leash without having to deal with personal demons. Their placements were not personality based but rather strategic movements.

Neville sat next to Lily and watched as she introduced him to her friends, Marlene McKinnon, Mary McDonald and Emmaline Vance. Neville recognized Emmaline from the Order but he never knew that she schooled with Lily. The pretty blonde girl then introduced him to Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.

Peter was nothing like the rat faced man he had once known. He had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. He was good looking enough in a boyish way in fact Peter reminded Neville a lot of himself back before when he doubted himself and his worth and he decided that he would befriend the boy first. He was more than some shadow to the marauders and he had to have something that he was good at, the hat placed in Gryffindor for a reason and instead of becoming a weak minded minion Neville was determined to see the man roar.

While everyone else seemed to talk over the boy Neville held out his hand, “Hello Peter my name is Neville.”

Peter smiled at him shyly and shook his hand but Neville could see him already going back into his shell and narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who’s your favourite Professor?”

Peter was shocked that the new boy was talking to him, usually everyone else usually over looked him. James and Sirius drew so much attention it was easy for him to be left in the shadow of the two other boys.

“Professor Aubrey, she is the divination Professor.”

Neville was shocked, he knew that Peter was not as magically talented as his friends but he never knew that he had an interest in divination.

“You like Divination? I never really believed in it. It seemed to be so imprecise and everyone always says that unless you have the gift then it you can’t learn it.”

Peter shook his head, “The subject can’t be taught not in the sense that if you look into a crystal ball you will be able to tell the future to do that you need the talent. My grandmother had the sight, very weak but she did have it but looking into the future is worthless, the future is always subject to change, once its seen or even heard like a prophecy people will change their decisions and make different choices rendering what has been seen worthless but you can look into the past and the present.”

People usually didn’t pay attention when Peter spoke but several people including James heard Peter explain his fascination with Divination something that the rest of them never bothered to learn about because everyone knew that it didn’t work right. It wasn’t something that could be learned.

Lily overheard and couldn’t help but ask, “If you cannot be taught to see the future how can you see the past?”

Peter blushed at having someone as pretty as Lily Evans give him her full attention and noticed that other people were listening as well, “When you hear people refer to the inner eye what they mean is the third eye located at the center of the forehead. People blessed by magic can use their inner eye to see the future but those who do have the gift can learn to harness the third eye. You connect to your magical core through various mediations and you become in essence a spirit like form with enough training you can learn to use your innate magic on an object or person to read them, their past or intentions. Its similar to being physic or getting good or bad vibes from someone if you get really good at it then you can learn to match the magic in an object to read its past so find out how it came to be.”

Several jaws dropped with the information and Mary asked, “Why don’t we learn how to do that?”

Peter shrugged, “That’s the reason Divination is taught at Hogwarts but we have a teacher that isn’t able to reach her inner eye. She has seer blood which makes her focus on her own gifts. She isn’t teaching the subject right because she didn’t learn how to do it. She discusses the theories of it with me when she has time but there are almost no books on it. During the witch trials before the statue of secrecy went up many magical libraries and books were lost most of the information on divination is lost, it’s a dying art not because there are no seers being born but because no one has managed to relearn the art.”

Neville had his mask up, the polite smile and nod while everyone was talking but inside he was freaking out. Peter had so much potential and he was trying to relearn a dying art form and no one had ever known, no one had ever cared that the shy boy was actually willing to learn something that no one had ever heard off and suddenly he had an idea.

“Peter have you heard of occlumency?” asked Neville.

The boy nodded his head, “I know it’s the art of shielding the mind but I don’t know much else.”

Neville nodded, “It discusses several mediation techniques and explains how to reach your core maybe if you learn that you can figure out how to reach your inner eye.”

Peter smiled at Neville brightly and asked, “Could you teach me?”

Neville could have just given him a book but if he offered to work with him then he would get the chance to spend more time with him and get to know him better, teach the cub to roar so Neville agreed to show him and then he said, “Maybe you should start writing a book. Since so much has been lost maybe you can write a book explaining the differences and what Divination is supposed to be about and when you learn how to do it then you can teach other people.”

Peter got really excited but then he shook his head, “I don’t do well with written things.”

Neville tugged on Remus, “Everyone knows how smart Remus is. Explain everything to him and have him write the book logically. Hermione can go on and on about stuff and none of us understand it but Hadrian summarizes and explains the jist of it. You lecture and he can write it out. Then you can publish it and spilt the profits.”

Remus looked scared and said, “I don’t think people would want to read something written by me.”

James and Sirius rolled their eyes at the man. He was so ashamed of being a werewolf he was sure if people found out then they wouldn’t even want to read the book, something that Peter would probably put a lot of effort in creating.

Neville just shrugged and pretended he didn’t know the reason Remus was so afraid, “Then put it under a pen name, something like John Remus or something. If you don’t want the attention of being known as an author you can publish it like that.”

Lily and Mary were both confused to see that they had the prefects badge but instead of causing problems at the Feast both girls escorted the first years and Neville to the tower and waited for Professor McGonagall to come to them.

The stern woman walked into the tower and she saw the two girls waiting in the common seemingly confused.

“I know you’re all wondering why there are two female Gryffindor prefects this year for the fifth years. The headmaster and I agreed that there are no fifth year boys who can be trusted to handle the responsibility. The four that we have presently have proven to be immature and reckless as such we will not be rewarding their behavior. We will watch Mr. Peverell and if he proves himself then we shall grant him the badge next year. The two girls we have chosen I wish you well and I hope you are able to work well together.”

That night when everyone was settling into bed James was looking in the mirror and he sighed. Professor McGonagall had always been kind to them, he knew that she liked them but he also knew that she always scolded them for their pranks especially towards Snape but then Dumbledore would wave her off and she would leave in a huff and now he was even more miserable.

His parents told him to do better but seeing the look of disappointment of the Professor’s face made it really hit home that the things they did really did have consequences. James knew that he and Sirius didn’t want to be prefects but they both knew that Remus would have liked it and he would have done a good job and the only reason he didn’t get the position was because Remus joined them and he never stopped them. He was being punished for their actions.

James got into bed and buried himself under the covers no longer how sure he was of the person he was. He ruined one of his friends chances at being a prefect and even though it wasn’t something that he would have wanted or been good at he knew that Remus would have been proud to fill the role and his other friend Peter he didn’t know anything about him. It was true that James best friend was Sirius, the two of them connected on the train and they had always been very close almost like brothers but then they met Remus and they knew the only reason they managed their time right and did their homework and avoided a lot of trouble was because of Remus and his discipline and slightly mothering nature.

Remus also helped them be more compassionate to other people even though he couldn’t get them to stop picking on the Slytherins. His condition opened their eyes to a part of the world that they knew existed but never really saw and so they had learned to become animagi something that they finally perfected a week before school could open but Peter he was always just there.

They never really connected with Peter, they knew his birthday and they included him in everything they did but they also dismissed him and didn’t really listen to him either. Peter was shy and quiet while Remus had more of a presence and raised an eyebrow and somehow managed to make you feel like an idiot Peter just disappeared into the shadows and James wondered how could he call himself Peter’s friend when he next to nothing about the boy.

James always saw himself as popular, handsome, rich and he was sure that he was a good person but now really thinking about himself and his actions he realized that he was a pretty shitty friend. Evans was right about him he was self-absorbed and arrogant. He never paid any attention to the people around him unless it made him look better and that itself made him feel 3 inches tall. It made him realize how self-centered he was and he knew that if he had met himself then he wouldn’t have liked himself. Why would Lily Evans who cared about everyone around her want to date someone as self-centered as James Potter?

He always thought of Snape as some sort of monster hiding the Princess away from him but Lily was always so happy when she saw Snape. She smiled at him and hugged him and treated him like someone would treat their little brother or their best friend and the truth would always be that Lily hated him because he was cruel to her best friend. Snape wasn’t some sort of monster that was keeping her from him Snape was her friend and she chose to spend her time with him and that was probably the crux of the matter.

James Potter had never been snubbed and Lily Evans had snubbed him, she chose Severus Snape over him, she was his friend and wanted nothing to do with him and as someone who had never been told no he had seen it as some sort of challenge.

James shook his head in disgust Lily wasn’t a trophy she was a person with thoughts and feelings and she didn’t deserve to seen as some sort of challenge. James decided that Snape was no longer his enemy he wasn’t a friend he was just another boy in the school and James was determined to stay as far away from him as possible. Snape didn’t deserve their pranks and until he did something that deserved retaliation then they were done targeting him.

Edited 22/11/2018


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to give Sirius a reason for nearly killing snape with the whole werewolf incident. I dont think it was just a prank he didnt think through I think there was more to the resentment so thats why I think sirius hated the slytherins and snape so much... lemme know if it makes sense to you guys... also I dont gave a beta so there are some grammer mistakes here and there and I forgot to do a disclaimer.... I own nothing but the plot. Btw I started school again today so updates will be slow.

Chapter 6

Hadrian Peverell made friends with Amelia Bones and a pretty brunette named Alicia Meadows. Alicia was a pureblood but Hadrian never knew her and she didn’t look familiar so he assumed that she probably didn’t survive the war or fled and never returned. His dorm mates were nice enough.

He was rooming with Will Fawley, Rick Roland and Michal Smyth a pureblood, half-blood and muggleborn respectively. The three boys were good friends and they were friendly enough. They spoke of their summers and introduced him to all the professors some of them he knew and some he had no idea about.

None of them really worried him too much though, if he was quiet they were happy to fill the silence and let him comment now and then and it was perfect. They weren’t too clingy but they were also welcoming enough not to completely freeze him out. It was perfect unlike the lions who would always be up in his business or the snakes tbat would watch his every move his roommates were happy to just let him be so he could come and go and no one would pay much attention.

That night in the dorms, somewhere that he had never been before was a good experience. The house was done in earth tones and it had a homey feel to it. Hadrian charmed his curtains closed and flamed away to the Headmasters office. Dumbledore was gone and he knew that there would be an attack tonight. The Turpin family would be killed. He was unsure whether or not the family was going to join the Order or not however they were a family that usually leaned towards neutral light side.

Their son had graduated from Hogwarts three years ago and he was planning his wedding. His parents, the son and future daughter-in-law would all die in the attack and Dumbledore didn’t know because there no Snape, there was no spy willing to betray information. Tom liked to ruin happy occasions even now, the starting of Hogwarts in one lifetime had been coloured in the blood of the innocent but this time things had changed.

Hadrian asked Fawkes to take him to Dumbledore since he had no idea where the Order was currently being housed. The birds appeared in a ball of fire with Fawkes going to his chosen human and the younger Phoenix flying around trying to get an idea of who was here. He recognized the Prewett brothers, Fabien and Gideon, they had been killed by death eaters, Alastor Moody, McGonagall, and several other people he honestly couldn’t name until he noticed someone that almost made him fly into a window. It was Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, they were probably in Potter manor. Hades decided to nest himself in Moody’s hair and wait until Fawkes finished delivering his message.

“Alastor when did you get a Phoenix?” asked Fleamont and the man just rolled his eyes.

“He isn’t mine. He visits from time to time.” He answered.

“Hades believes there is a family in danger tonight.” Said Albus and the tension in the room tripled.

“Can we actually trust a bird?” asked Caradoc Dearborn.

Albus sighed tiredly, “A Phoenix will always serve the light, they are creatures of the light and they only appear to those worthy. This one seems to have taken a liking to Alastor and has decided to help him.”

In the end it was decided that Alastor and Benjy Fenwick would go with the bird and if there was any trouble then they would send for reinforcements.

Hadrian flamed them to house and waited 10 minutes. There was a group of death eaters approaching the house and Moody got a mad glint in eyes which promised pain. Hades flamed Benjy away and took him back to get help. The fight took about half an hour but without Tom making an appearance Alastor moved in on the house and Hades flamed the family away, taking them to where Dumbledore was waiting, while the reinforcements were waiting inside house.

The death eaters walked into a trap but he also knew that these were not a high profile catch some new members and other people looking to impress their master, mostly foot soilders, this was a win but in the long run these Death Eaters would not have any useful information. Hades flamed away not wanting anyone to see him there. He was trying to keep a low profile until he was ready to face old Tommy boy again but for now he would sleep in peace knowing that he managed to save at least four innocent people.

The next morning instead of having breakfast with his housemates he went to Hermione. She introduced him to her dorm mates, Pandora Moon, Mandy Brocklehurst and Maria Glossop. Pandora reminded him a lot of Luna and he assumed that this was her mother. Her other year mates were Steven Davies, Marcus Belby and David Clearwater. There were others in their year but these were the ones that she shared a floor with. They both collected their schedules and saw that they had DADA first.

Hadrian was taking DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Herbology and Runes.

Hermione was taking DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Arithmancy and Runes.

Draco had DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Herbology and Arithmancy.

Neville had DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, and Herbology.

They would always have at least one other sibling doing the same subject at all times. Hermione decided to take some of her OWL’s and NEWT’s separately. They didn’t have the time right now to be swamped with school work and could always do her tests privately.

Hadrian slipped away from Hermione when she met up with Lily and went to Draco. Several Slytherins nearly fell out of their chairs when they realized that there was a Hufflepuff at the table and when Avery went to hex him, Draco flicked his wrist and threw Avery into the wall.

“Raise your wand to my brother Avery and I will kill you. My siblings will not suddenly drop out of my life due to colour of my tie. Take your senseless house bigotry and shove it up your arse.”

There was dead silence from the entire Hall when Avery hit the wall and no one had any idea what to say to the Slytherin Peverell who had effortlessly tossed a teenager into the wall for attempting to curse his brother. The Professors were so shocked that none of them even took points. Draco made some sort of hand movement and the hall was shocked to see the other two Peverell siblings get up and walk out of the hall with their brothers.

As the door to the Great Hall closed they heard Hermione ask, “Did they honestly believe that just because we were sorted into different houses we would stop talking or did they think that because Draco was in Slytherin he would be shunned?”

Neville rolled his eyes, “Most of them think that ambition and cunning mean evil and vile then again people like Avery who go around screaming about blood purity do tend to destroy the House reputation.”

Draco just rolled his eyes, “We are just protective no one else in the entire castle gives a damn about us. We stick together or the other houses would eat us alive.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes, “Focus people. We need to figure out how to get to our classes, we left our friends in the hall during our dramatic exit.”

Lily and Severus shared a look which basically said, ‘Shouldn’t we go and help them’ and Peter bit his lip and got up as well. It seemed like Hadrian and Hermione weren’t close to any of their dorm mates yet so they might need help as well and Neville had been incredibly kind to him, the least he could do was help them to their classes.

The two lions and one snake ran after the quadruplets to help them get to their classes. During DADA James and Sirius were listening to Professor Crawley. The man was a retired auror and seemed to be one of the best teachers they had so far. He was fair and started them off with a high profile spell.

“The Patronus charm is mainly used to repel dementors but as this is your OWL year producing a few wisps of smoke is enough to earn you extra marks in your exam. You can practice the spell this lesson and tomorrow we will move on. You can keep trying in your free time but I honestly have no idea how many of you will be able to produce one.”

The Professor had been called away and left the class to carry on practicing the spell as this was the only lesson he would give them before moving on to something else. Many people were unable to even produce the wisps like the Professor said and several people were getting frustrated.

Neville and Draco were talking in hushed tones. They didn’t even bother to try and Lily went over to ask them why didn’t want to try.

The two boys just shared a look and Draco nodded his head and they both wordless just flicked their wands and two corporal patronus danced around the room until they disappeared. Draco’s was snake while Neville’s was an owl only Draco knew it was Hedwig who gave her life to protect both Hadrian and him.

“How did you do that?” asked Lily.

Neville looked at Draco and shook his head and pushed him forwards saying, “I ain’t teaching it this time.”

Draco rolled his eyes and asked Lily, “What memory did you use?”

Lily bit her lip, “The last time I tried when I first saw Hogwarts.”

Draco shook his head, “Looking back at it now as a fifth year it seems like a good memory but at the time you were a scared first year who had no idea what was going to happen next. You probably felt excited but also fear of the unknown and wariness. It won’t work for a patronus.”

Lily bit her lip and several other people seemed to be thinking of what other memories one could use, “The memory wasn’t happy enough?” she asked.

Draco shook his head, “The memory that makes a corporal patronus is not just any memory filled with joy but a memory where joy and happiness is so overwhelming that it makes you ignore any other emotions such as fear, excitement or even frustration.”

Lily couldn’t help but ask, “What do you think of?”

Draco just shrugged, “My family, happy, whole and alive. It doesn’t have to be a memory it can be a dream or something that you dearly wish for, wrap yourself in the emotions of joy and love and then cast and then practice until it becomes easy. Remember a patronus is specific to every person and sometimes a patronus can change.”

James couldn’t help but ask, “Why would it change?”

Neville was the one who replied, “The animal represents something that you trust to protect you. A spirit guide of sorts but when you go through something life changing the animal changes. I once knew a woman whose patronus was a bear until she fell in love, she loved him so much her patronus changed to reflect her love. It changed from a bear to a werewolf.”

Remus looked a little stunned at what Neville said and Sirius asked, “She was in love with a werewolf?”

Neville just nodded, “She was and her patronus was proof the love they shared and her trust in him.”

Thanks to the impromptu lesson from Draco several people were able to at least produce wisps of smoke by the end of the lesson. Lily even had some sort of animal try to take shape but eventually the lesson ended and Lily had not yet mastered the spell even though as they walked out of the room in between Snape and Draco she was asking him to help her practice after class.

Sirius walked over to James and clapped him on the shoulder, “Not gonna run after Evans Prongs.”

James shook his head, “Nah, Evans is still special but I think it would be best if I kept my distance Padfoot.”

Sirius knew that the decision hurt James because as much as he postured and joked he really did like Lily but the way he went about doing it wasn’t right. He only pushed the girl further away and he had only himself to blame. The first two years when the pranks weren’t so bad Evans sometimes spoke to them helping with homework and even partnering up with them sometimes in classes but when James decided that he was in love with her and the pranks towards Snape turned malicious and Lily was fiercely loyal to her friends. She took each attack on Snape personally and she made sure they knew exactly how little she thought of their behavior even though they had been too stubborn to really listen to her.

Sirius Black wanted to rage against Hermione Peverell especially since she told him how proud his mother would be of him but he couldn’t find it in himself to do so. The book that Fleamont Potter gave him on mind arts really helped keep a lock on his anger and see things more clearly but the truth was the reason he hated the Slytherins so much was because they were everything his mother wanted him to be.

Sirius had wanted her to be proud of him, every child wants their parents to be proud and even though he raged against pureblood ideology and dark magic he never wanted his mother to hate him. He thought that eventually she would get used to the idea of having a Gryffindor son, it wouldn't really matter after all especially since after school no one really cared what house you had been in but he was wrong every year everything just got worse and worse and he acted out more and more and he had managed to dig himself into a hole and he had no idea if he could get out of it.

James may have hated Snape because of Evans but Sirius he hated Snape because of what he represented. Snape was a half-blood, it had come out sometime during first year when everyone realized that there were no magical Snape families anywhere and he was obviously poor, all pureblood families had some sort of wealth or at least enough not to clothe their children in rags but that wasn’t the point. Snape was bloody powerful and he didn’t think the boy really knew it.

Sirius was a Black and if there was anything a Black was good at then it was at recognizing power and Snape was powerful but he was also intelligent almost frighteningly intelligent. He wasn’t lying when he said that Snape had come to school knowing more dark curses than the seventh years because Sirius he remembered.

It was back in first year, before they really started playing pranks, a seventh year pushed Snape and he blasted the older, larger boy into the wall and that was when Sirius saw it. He saw the boys black eyes glow with power and he knew that the boy would be absolutely ruthless when pushed into a corner and he would strike out and leave nothing but a bloody body of the poor sod that decided to screw him over and Sirius was determined to break him down in that moment because Snape was exactly what his mother always wanted in a son.

Snape was smart, ruthless, powerful and he could wear masks and play games better than anyone else he had ever seen. He sometimes wondered what would have happened if the Lord Prince ever bothered to check up on his grandson, he would have rubbed his hands in glee once he saw the potential in the snake and Sirius just wanted the walking talking reminder of everything he was not to just go away so he helped James at every turn and now he was so bloody ashamed.

He was supposed to be noble and chivalrous but instead he had been acting like a weak little coward. He had been taking out his frustrations that came from a fucked up family on someone who never did anything wrong. Snape wasn’t some sort of saint, he gave as good as he got at every turn but the fact was that if they hadn’t started on him then the boy would have probably never bothered with them.

Snape was the bloody embodiment of his house and most of those stuck up purebloods never noticed how the poor half-blood made deals and pulled strings to get them to look the other way while he managed to stay friends with Lily and now that Draco was in the house with him, he finally had some back up. Sirius agreed with James but he also knew that he needed to do something else that James didn’t. He needed to talk to his brother.

Regulus had been paying for a crime he never committed because in Sirius’s mind being the perfect little son and going to Slytherin was a crime. Regulus had once worshipped his elder brother and he had cared for him very much and Sirius had been ignoring him since he was sorted in first year. It made sense that Regulus didn’t want to draw their mothers anger and he knew that he would never agree with them but he could at least make sure that Regulus knew he could always come to him. He couldn’t blame the house of snakes for his mothers attitude and he couldn’t keep punishing them either.

Sirius went up to the dorm, he had an hour free before Transfiguration and he was shocked to walk in and find his bed occupied. Sirius knew he had a bit of a reputation with the ladies and a few men. He had never been shy about the fact that he was bisexual and more than willing to have a good time but no one ever snuck into his bed before. He put his hand on the person to shake them awake when a surprisingly male hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him into bed and then proceeded to use him as a human teddy bear. He struggled for a moment before sighing and taking a nap since he couldn’t break the hold.

James was looking for Sirius and since Remus currently had the map he was going at it old school by hunting down his friend in his usual haunts. He came across Neville who offered to help find him and in the end they both gave up and decided to check the dorms even though they had about 10 minutes to make it to Transfiguration.

James walked into the dorm about to shout when he found Sirius being cuddled by another boy and Neville immediately face-palmed and said, “Wrong bed idiot.”

Neville then went to his trunk and took out a cookie jar and rattled it so it made some noise, “Harry-kins cookie wakey wakey.”

Sirius had woken up tried and failed to get out of Hadrians iron hold and saw both Neville and James laughing at him and Sirius sighed and watched Neville wake his brother. Hadrian yawned, rubbed one green eye like a kitten and cocked his head listening to his brother before making ‘gimme gimme’ gestures with his hands.

“Out of Sirius’s bed first Hadrian.” Said Neville.

Hadrian’s eyes flew open in horror as he threw himself out of the bed and moved to stand next to his brother. The teen was without a shirt and James and Sirius’s eyes widened to the numbered of scars on his body especially the burn on his left side.

“You said I could nap in your bed.” He told Neville as he took the cookie from his brothers hand.

“Yes my bed not Sirius’s. You used him as a teddy bear, honestly Hermione is never going to let you live this down.”

Hadrian pulled on his robe , muttering apologies and curses before he went running off to Runes while James, Sirius and Neville ran for Transfiguration.

“Why was he sleeping in our dorm?” asked James.

Neville sighed, “We all lived separately before our Godfather found us and Hadrian’s relatives were not accepting. They didn’t like magic thought they could beat it out of him. He is usually all responsible and stuff but sometimes when he has nightmares or he gets depressed he likes to seek us out, cuddle, reassure himself that his family is near. Besides waking Hadrian any other way is physically painful, the cookie thing is just easier.”

James and Sirius shared a look as Neville walked away wondering how many other secrets the four siblings were hiding.

Edited 22/11/2018


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a time skip of 6 months in this chapter and used it mostly as a filler, a sort of whats happening in the houses and what they are doing in the places that they are. No idea when Im gonna update next but thanks for all the great comments

Chapter 7

Time passed quickly for the Peverell siblings they fell into the routine of the Hogwarts life. Sleep, breakfast, classes, homework, hanging out with friends and even Hogsmead weekends. There were times when Hadrian would wake up and forget everything that they had been through even if it was just for a moment, there were times when he wondered if this was what his life would have been like, if they had lived in a time when there was no war because Dumbledore did a really good job of keeping the ugliness of the war away from the school, they enjoyed the peace but they knew it wouldn’t last long.

By the year 1977, several people would be awaiting the newspaper every morning just so that they could find out who had died the night before and who had survived. Their example of being presenting a unified front even though they had been sorted differently had first been met with anger.

Several purebloods like Lestrange, Avery and Nott tried to put Draco in his place in the Slytherin hierarchy. They had a very cruel wake-up call when Draco obliterated them all in a duel because the fact was that they were just children. They were a bunch of rich jerks who had heard whispers and promises of power but they held no experience in the real world and for someone like Draco who had been raised a malfoy, trained as a spy, and lied to the Dark Lord himself, they were just children with petty ideas of power and revenge.

Most of the Slytherins had absolutely no idea what it truly meant to serve the Dark Lord. When the rumours had first begun they believed it to be some sort of pureblood club that would be exclusive to those of ‘good breeding’ and maybe it would also lead to several political alliances to the heirs of pureblood families.

Then there was talk of attacking muggles and they believed it to be some sort of sport that they did if they wanted to do it like a game of some sorts that their parents weren’t the ones murdering innocent people because they saw muggles as less than human. They didn't  know that they would be punished for their failures and that they would be forced to do things that they didn't want to do, they didnt know that the Dark Lord didn't have friends, he only had slaves and every order given was supposed to be met with blind obedience.

They had no idea that taking the mark was not a gift but a brand which would make them slaves, that would be bound to serve even against their will, that their actions would cause them and their families lives to be endangered. They were just children with illusions of grandeur, they were just fifteen year old boys who thought that their blood somehow made them better or gave them the right to decide who was going to live or die.

In the end however it wasn’t the fact that they were murdering innocent people that turned their stomachs it was the fact that they managed to completely destroy their population.

Purebloods were a small number of the population and that would never be changed however when they all joined up thinking that they would rid the world of filth, lift the ban on magic marked as dark or illegal because it scared muggleborns, they believed that they would make a better world where only purebloods were allowed to survive in it they didn’t take into account the fact that they were joining up for a war, a war that divided families up into light and dark and then proceeded to massacre each other.

Several neutral families who could have possibly allowed marriages between their lines were wiped out, causing several families to choose from an already small gene pool something that they knew and resented. Their marriages options were running low and birth rates were even lower, they had successfully ended the pureblood regime by killing off the population.

When Avery, Nott and Lestrange attacked him and brought him forward to the King of Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy, 7th year, there was a reckoning in the House of Snakes and the King toppled. Draco obliterated through the court which rules Slytherin with an iron fist and then he went even further bring up a chess board showing them exactly what was going to happen to the population when the Dark Lord was through with his war. Draco recalled the look of horror in the eyes of every pureblood when he pulled out the chessboard and divided up the pieces.

“This chessboard represents the Dark and the Light side of the coming war. The pawns will be all the innocent muggles and muggleborns who have no idea that magic exists nor do they have any idea how they get it and before you try that they steal magic shit lets be logical- if we magical people haven’t found a way to steal each other’s magic how in Merlins name would a couple of muggles who don’t know about the magical world even try to ‘steal magic’ so let’s use some common sense. The rest of the pieces represent the Ancient and Noble Houses.”

Draco waved a hand and destroyed several pieces on both sides of the board.

“The black King is The Dark Lord and the white king is Dumbledore. Now in an effort to get rid of all non-purebloods several families will die, both in service to Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. Then we are left with whichever side wins and manages to kill off the leader and you know where that gets us? It gets our population cut down like animals and your marriage prospects suddenly become smaller. We all agree that marrying too close is causing problems, we already have seen the effects, the best example is the Gaunt family and in the fact that several pureblood families can only produce one heir, how long until this war that you are all set to wage destroys us in the process?”

It was Regulus Black that actually helped him the most with his next question, “What do you expect us to do? Marry mudbloods that don’t care about our traditions and culture?”

Draco hid a smile and answered him, “Don’t be daft. Why is it that you all feel the need to either destroy your beliefs or destroy our country? There is something called a compromise.”

Several purebloods raised an eyebrow to him, “The problem that most of you have is that muggleborns don’t understand how the magical works and have forced the old ways to be replaced with their traditions and culture but that isn’t really true. The muggleborns had no say in those laws. That came from Dumbledore in an effort to make them feel safer in the magical world.”

Avery sneered, “Then we get rid of Dumbledore and only the Dark Lord can do that.”

Draco and Regulus rolled their eyes and Regulus replied, “The Dark Lord is powerful but he fears Dumbledore. I have no interest in getting caught in the middle of their power struggle.”

Draco nearly kissed the boy who made it clear exactly what the war had ended up becoming, both Dumbledore and Tom had been too extreme in their views neither one of them willing to compromise something which would have made everything easier. If they were going to win this war then everyone needed a voice and that included the purebloods.

They joined because they were pissed with the pro-muggle approach which they all admitted weren’t fair. Most of the Dark families followed paganism as a religion something that was outlawed as the muggles saw it as an evil practice and speaking with devils. They made the rituals illegal so that the muggleborns would stay in the magical world and learn to control their magic instead of becoming a danger to the statue of secrecy.

Britain needed change and they needed something that the muggles were just getting into, freedom of expression. Draco spoke again, “Does Hogwarts cover anything that would help them learn? I don’t see magical traditions taught nor do I see an up to date muggle studies classes. Muggles have moved forward so quickly in the half a century and magical folk are just dragging their feet behind them. Ignorance is the reason for hatred. You know nothing but the shit shoved down your throats by your parents why don’t any you actually learn about the real world?”

Draco took over as the King of Slytherin and rest of the school was left to scratch their heads and wonder why the seating of the Slytherins had changed. It was a simple seating system, only those in fourth year and higher were involved in the power struggles of the house and those in first to third were left to sit at the end of the table nearest to the Professors. The King of the Snakes sat at the head of the table with his court following him in order of importance.

Severus Snape sat at his right while Regulus Black sat his left. There were two empty seats then they sat in order of year from seventh years going down to fourth years as there was no longer a court and they did not yet choose their allies instead Draco was teaching them muggle history starting at the turn of 18th century, the discovery of electricity, cars and other devices that muggles created to make their lives easier even without magic.

He even taught them about their development in war and why their numbers so greatly outweighed their own. It was a terrifying reality for them and it also made them realize that Hogwarts needed several new classes. They would learn from the muggle world, they may be purebloods however they were Slytherins. They were cunning and manipulative. They planned in advance, they sought out deals and alliances, they were above all else only looking out for themselves and they always survived. When war came they chose the winning side and it never mattered who thought what about them they played their hands close to the chest and you never knew when they moved until they decided to strike.

Draco pulled Narcissa Black to his court and with her came Melissa Burke. She had originally died in the war and with her so did her line however Draco mentioned something that made several pureblood heiress’s pause, “Muggleborn or muggle raised are more willing to take on the name of their wife. They no longer have the need that we do to continue a family line.”

Several Slytherins bit their lips, “If we were to take your advice and teach them our way our children will still be half-bloods.”

Draco rolled his eyes and stated that night something that shocked them to their core, “I am a half-blood. My father was pureblood but my mother was a muggleborn and no one in the ministry would dare touch me even if they knew my blood-status. The fact is blood doesn’t mean anything when you already have a family name, being the heir to a Noble house automatically ensures your safety regardless of blood-status, which can be regained eventually, if you keep track, besides pureblood spills just as easily as any other, it doesn’t change a damn thing about the fact that if you join that war out there that’s brewing and you get yourself killed, your line ends and before you start crying about disownment no one would dare disown their heir until they can secure another so you can buy yourself years and in that time this war is sure to end.”

Several of the seventh year Slytherins had already begun to send applications overseas for apprenticeships telling their parents that they would return to serve as masters of their chosen crafts instead of saying that they didn’t want the mark. Tom was glad that he assumed he would be getting several Masters in their fields instead of just more politicians. This would allow him to build up his talent base and have even more skilled servants.

Dumbledore noticed how many Slytherins were choosing to get out of Britain as fast as possible once they graduated and couldn’t help but feel even a little bit of relief. He always feared the House of Snakes and their beliefs and while he may not have most of them hugging muggleborns he could thank which ever God was responsible for at the very least forcing neutrality from them. If he could do nothing more then at the very least they would not join Tom and grant him an even bigger army.

It was more than he had originally hoped especially in the recent days, he noticed them growing more and more hateful and angry towards the other students, taking out their frustrations in dangerous ways sometimes he feared what they could become but ever since Draco Peverell had taken over the house he had managed to steal the crown and turn Malfoy to the Grey. He had once feared that the boy had already chosen his side but his recent application to South Africa to learn Healing was a shock and he was only too glad to send off the applications even writing letters of recommendation to those who he feared might be passed over anything to help keep them out of the war.

Hermione smirked as she looked out over the House of Snakes and mentally added another tick on her list. Six months into the year and had time really flown by, Hermione had never been a popular girl when she was in Hogwarts but this time she had many friends. She needed to be popular to draw people to her but she also knew that several people were curious, she and her brothers had several secrets and people had picked up on several of their code words and signals.

They blended in as much as possible however one thing that couldn’t be changed was the fact that they were all brilliant, intelligent, powerful and beautiful. People wanted to know them and their secrets however this just made it easier to have them question themselves and their decisions.

Hermione knew that she already had several would be death eaters consider work outside the country, while Tom had recruited from all the houses it truly was Slytherin that had the most problems and Draco had already taken them well in hand. The marauders had included Neville into their group and she frequently saw Peter and Remus sitting together and writing that book on Divination like Neville had suggested.

Hermione would never forgive the Peter of her time but this was just a fifteen year old boy who was finally learning to be more confident in himself and to stand up for himself without James and Sirius and thinking of those two Hermione smiled thinking of the progress that they had made.

Sirius had spoken to his brother and they had begun taking the long road to repairing their relationship while James was reaching out to other people. Frank Longbottom was a seventh year lion and he was the head boy. Neville had been happy to get to know the man but he also kept a bit of distance between them. He had his hands full with the marauders, he didn’t want to interfere too much with the path that Frank would take. Frank was always a serious and responsible person. He played quiddich and made time for his friends and girlfriend Alice Smith. He was a good role model and James had taken to spending some time with the older boy when Sirius was busy with Regulus. They played chess even though he lost miserably and talked about the plans for the future. James always knew that Frank was a good role model and that he was a good student but it was more than that. James had admired Frank for being able to be kind to anyone and that was something he realized that he needed. He needed to start noticing the world and the people around him.

Lily had also taken notice of the marauders and the fact that they seemed to calm down and find better things to do rather than bullying other people and she smiled in relief. In her heart she always knew that they weren’t bad people just immature and she was just glad that they finally seemed to be growing up but she was honestly happy that Potter finally left her alone.

She was always a little flattered by the attention even though it embarrassed her but James Potter was not someone that Lily could ever really see herself with, sometimes when she caught him joking or calmly reading a book or even napping that one time she admitted that he was a good person, a loyal friend and even funny when he wasn’t being annoying but as much as she could probably see herself with the man that he was becoming she couldn’t go back down that road and she knew it not because of Sev or their past but because he didn’t make her heart beat the way it did when she saw Draco and her tummy didn’t do the same flips when she saw James.

Once upon a time before she had met Draco Peverell she could have seen herself with James once he matured but not anymore. She didn’t want to give up all she already had built with Draco for a possibility for something with James especially since he had left her alone and finally moved on. She wouldn’t play with his heart like that. James was going to make someone very happy one day but she already knew it wouldn’t be her, now all she had to do was wait until Draco was ready. She knew that he cared about her but he didn’t figure out in what way in felt about her at least not yet. Lily was sure that he would figure it out and then ask her on a date and she was willing to give it a go.

Sirius Black was watching Hadrian Peverell. He did that to the poor Hufflepuff a lot ever since he had reconnected with Reggie who urged him to write to their Grandfather, something no one really knew was that Orion Black was not the Lord Black. His Grandfather allowed him to be the proxy however he never named an heir and his mother could screech all she wanted about him being a blood traitor and it wouldn’t matter, because she had no say in who he named as his heir. Their Grandfather lived in seclusion not getting involved in politics and allowing Orion to handle the family but if what Reggie said was true then his Grandfather still had all the power.

Sirius had written to him explain what was going on and he was still waiting for a reply, he honestly had no idea what it would mean but he was sure that his grandfather deserved to know what his son and daughter in law had done to the family in his absence at least but Hadrian now the boy was an enigma.

As a Black he knew power when he saw it and he knew the ‘Puff was hiding more than he was letting on but that didn’t change the fact that the Sex God of Hogwarts couldn’t get one single boy out of his head so he tried flirting and it had fallen flat. The boy wasn’t interested but he was sure he had checked him out a few times but there was something holding him back and Sirius narrowed his eyes at the challenge. Hadrian Peverell would be his and there was nothing that was going to stop him from getting what he wanted.

Edited 22/11/2018


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fifth year is mostly about character development. I wanted them here because snape and lily were still friends and because its the year they took Owls which is like one of their most important tests..... Im gonna end this year quickly and get them moving towards the war which they will gwt involved in once they start 6th year... I also want romance development so lemme know if im doing a good job... thanks for the amazing reviews.

Chapter 8

Lord Arcturus Black was a formidable man. He was also old and grieving, Melania Black nee Macmillan had died just after the birth of their first grandchild Sirius and it had sent him spiraling into depression. The marriage may have been contacted however he had come to love his dear wife so very much it killed him to be without her. His daughter in law Walburga was a bloody harpy, his son spineless but he trusted them to at least grow up their sons with the correct values and reading through the only letter his grandson ever bothered to send him he realized how very wrong he was and his temper seethed.

He never really like Walburga as a match for his son but Orion had been ill almost all his childhood even though he was the eldest. Pollux was cowardly and slightly power hungry and he always knew that neither of his sons would be able to bear the burden of their family nor would they be able to bring honour to their great house so he held off naming an heir and reading that thrice damned he realized it was a damn good thing he had done so.

Walburga went from being a power hungry girl who a power crazed idiot who had abused his grandsons and contrary to popular belief the Lord Black did not hate muggleborns. He may not like them but he was clever enough to know that purebloods needed muggleborns and they needed half-bloods. The world couldn’t run with just pureblood Lords who believed that they ran the world due to the purity of their blood. He did however give great respect to his line and their achievements, he was proud of his heritage and he would never allow anyone in the House of Black to consort with those who turned their backs on their way of life, it was part of their house motto- ‘always pure’ did not refer to blood but to magic. The house of Black would welcome anyone who honoured magic and renounced the muggle way of life and it seemed that his daughter in law had poisoned the minds of his grandsons.

The blood was pounding in his ears as he made plans to fix the mess that blasted woman had made and he nearly wanted to throttle his son. Orion had been ill for so long that he was a very shy child, he never really learned the lessons of an heir well always in and out of hospital but as he grew older he got stronger and he had hoped that having a strong willed wife would help keep him in line but Orion crumbled and left his wife to do as she pleased while he catered to her every whim. That blasted chit wasn’t going to live one more moment on this earth and when she was finally dead, Orion would be sent to one corner of the earth while his brother and daughter in law (Pollux and Druella) joined them in another corner then he would have to deal with the mess that they had made of his granddaughters lives and ensure that Sirius understood what it actually meant to be the Black Heir and not whatever crap Walburga pushed into his head, a potions accident would make a good excuse to the ministry for why his dear daughter in law died, with a shark like grin he apparated away thinking of all the chaos his return was about to bring.

A week had passed since Sirius had sent the letter to his Grandfather and he had yet to hear back from him. James opened the morning newspaper and paled as he read the title on the first page, he turned to speak to his best friend only to find him lost in his own thoughts, something that happened a lot since he had written to his grandfather and not heard back since then.

“Sirius I think you need to see this.” 

Sirius turned to James slightly surprised at how serious he seemed when he read the title on the first page of the Prophet. It was basically screaming, ‘Lady Black dies in potions accident.’ Sirius paled and ran out of the room uncaring of the fact that everyone was staring and his brother was chasing after him.

“Slow down, I’m not as fast as you are.” Shouted Regulus.

Sirius sped into an abandoned classroom and nearly collapsed, “I did this. I got her killed.”

Regulus just looked lost at his brother, “What are you talking about?”

Sirius explained to him how he had written to their grandfather about everything that was going on in Britain since he had left and almost a week later their mother was dead. They both knew their mother never went near a cauldron, everyone knew that she thought it was servants work to brew.

Regulus just sighed and rolled his eyes, “What did you think he was going to do?”, seeing the look of self-righteousness on his brothers face Regulus suddenly turned fierce, “Don’t look at me like I’m some sort of monster brother, this was exactly what was going to happen and you knew it. The Black family is dangerous, we use whatever information we have to further our own agendas, we take revenge mercilessly, we hit hard and fast and we leave nothing of our enemies and when our family is threatened we go to war. Our mother abused us, our father abandoned us, our Grandfather took vengeance on the one that sought to destroy the Heir, you knew this would happen and you know this is what you would have done if it were you. Stop being a bloody hypocrite.” 

Sirius grasped his hair and tugged in frustration, “Merlin Reggie, she was your mother too. How can you be so okay with this?”

Regulus showed a brief flicker of sorrow in his eyes before he replied, “She wasn’t a good mother. She was doing more damage to our family than good and everyone knew it but more than that she was sending me down a dangerous path. I never wanted to be heir or a death eater and mother was insane. Its better that she’s gone but that doesn’t mean I won’t miss the person who would sing me to sleep. I loved her but that doesn’t change the fact that she was a danger to us. Its better this way Sirius and you know it. You never liked her all that much and now you don’t even have to worry about her approval.”

Sirius never meant for his mother to die but in his heart he knew that once he had written to his Grandfather there would be blood spilt. His grandfather was not a merciful man, he never had been and if he saw an attack on his family he dealt with the threat, quickly and efficiently. He left to grieve allowing his son to be the proxy but now that his family needed him the Lord Black was returning and there was going to be hell to pay with the disgrace that his sons had brought to their family. Sirius only had one memory of his Grandfather and it was when the man had told his four year old self that a Black would bow to no one and that he should never bend nor bow to anyone but his own will, something that had stuck in his head and he refused to break, bow or bend to his mothers will because Sirius knew that was not his Grandfather had stood for and now without her he was finally free.

Arcturus Blacked hated Albus Dumbledore not because the man was stupid or even weak but because he didn’t see the point of magical tradition. He knew that the Dumbledore family were only a minor house, they didn’t carry much power and when they turned their backs on magical tradition when Percival Dumbledore married Kendra who was a muggleborn, Albus grew up without knowing the importance of their tradition and then he went ahead and stopped one Dark Lord and everyone in Britain suddenly put the man on a throne and allowed him to change their way of life and it grated on his nerves especially since the old coot was so bloody manipulative however he needed to speak with his grandsons which meant he would have to deal with him.

Sirius was called up to the Headmasters office and saw his grandfather for the first time in nearly a decade. They then flooed home with his brother due to ‘funeral arrangements’ as the Headmaster expressed his sorrows however once they were home, they were both brought to the Lords study where they were shocked to see their three cousins, Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. Sirius remembered that his mother was in the middle of trying to negotiate a marriage contract with the Lestrange, Avery and Malfoy families for the three girls. He also knew that only Narcissa was happy with the contract while Bellatrix loathed the very air Rodolphus breathed while Andy was in love with a muggleborn. 

Their Grandfather was very direct when he explained to Bellatrix that she was free to choose her husband and everyone was shocked when she said that she had feelings for Malcolm McKinnon, a Grey family who sometimes leaned Light and was hoping her Grandfather would try to set up a contract with him instead, Andy told him of her muggleborn and his only reply was that the boy would take the Black name and renounce the muggle world or he would disown her and Narcissa calmly accepted her contract. She truly loved Lucius and he did love her. When the three Black siblings were taken care of the girls retired for the night leaving only Sirius and Regulus.

“Summer break will be long for you both. I find your lacking knowledge on the truth of this family unacceptable. You will learn Sirius and Regulus you will help him.”

Sirius returned to school knowing that his entire life was about to change when summer came again.

While Sirius was off dealing with Black family drama, James was spending some time trying to get over Lily Evans. He may have stopped chasing her and harassing her, he flinched at thinking about it like that but the truth was that when he spoke to Frank and his girlfriend Alice commented that if Frank had tried that approach she would have killed him he realized how bothersome he had truly been to her and he was a little ashamed that he kept putting the girl in such embarrassing positions however his immaturity aside that didn’t change the fact that James Potter had believed he was in love with her and would someday marry her for the past two years.

James was a stubborn person, he always had been and yes he might have been slightly spoiled but he never thought that the day would come that he would suffer heartbreak and the truth was that Lily had broken his heart. It had been easy in the past to convince himself that she would one day come around but now that he knew he was never going to get the girl it stung. He had admired Lily, her beauty, intelligence, stubbornness and even her loyalty. She was his idea of perfection and she hated him. Her beautiful green eyes always burned with so much fire and passion when he made her angry that he once thought he could drown in them but now he realized that there was also disgust in those eyes. She looked down on him because of his own behavior and he wanted nothing more than to prove her wrong and then maybe she would fall into his arms and love him forever but that was nothing but a daydream because as he stared out the window, looking down at the great lake James couldn’t help but sigh in resignation.

Lily was being chased by Draco Peverell, the two were playing a silly game of tag and they were running around the picnic blanket that Hermione had set out for them. Lily seemed to have stolen something, that probably belonged to Draco and he was chasing her to get it back and she was laughing. James sighed again as he looked at the joy on her face and realized that she was never going to be his because she already belonged to him and he doubted either of them even knew it yet.

James forced himself to stop staring at Lily and took in the rest of them. Snape was sitting with his back against a tree while Hermione sat in between his legs. Snape had his arms around her and was holding the book and now and then Hermione would turn the page or laugh at something someone said and Snape would roll his eyes and James just stared at Snape.

That was the boy that they had tormented so much and in the past 6 months he had become nearly unrecognizable, his hair cropped short, his broken nose was fixed and nearly three months ago, Hermione had fixed his teeth. She had Madame Pomfrey resize his teeth so they set properly and were now straight and then she whitened them and Snape looked normal. He was still pale and lanky but even James could admit that he was somewhat lanky as well. Severus also seemed to gaining muscle, either he was finally growing into his body or his baggy clothes hid more than anyone had realized.

James couldn’t help but feel relieved that Snape wasn’t so miserable anymore, Merlin knew that he had done enough to him the teen deserved some peace. He admitted to himself that if he could be happy that Snape was happier then he must have really grown up some, he supposed that this was either empathy or compassion but then Lily laughed and James just wanted to crawl back into bed. He had done enough growing up today. He had held on so tightly to Lily that he never really knew what he would do with himself if he wasn’t chasing after her anymore and it was time he found out but maybe tomorrow, for today he wanted to be a teenager and sulk a little longer since he had lost the girl.

Severus Snape was looking out at the people around him and wondered how the hell he had gotten so lucky. He had his amazing best friend and he was finally allowed to just be her friend. It had been so hard being a half-blood in Slytherin with no political connections, no money or even a name to protect himself, all he had was his intelligence and his cunning and he had fought tooth and nail to be with Lily. A half-blood was bad enough but being best friends with a muggleborn was enough to put a permanent target on his back. It had taken everything he had and then some to ensure that they all left Lily alone even going as far as tormenting other people as long as they left her alone and they did for the most part but the war was getting worse and he was growing bitter and losing himself in a crowd and he didn’t even recognize what he was becoming anymore and then she appeared.

Hermione had just appeared out of no where and she had taken him under her wing. She gave him a job and fixed his appearance and she was his friend. She fought against his stupidity with calm logic and she understood him and his need to know everything about every type of magic and she didn’t condemn him for dabbling with dark magic choosing to help him create counter curses and potions to fix the damage that Dark magic made instead of just being helpless to stop it. Hermione was kind and beautiful and funny but most of all when they were together it was like being two parts of a whole. The two of them just fit together and their minds worked in such a way that they just knew each other, almost as if they were talking without saying a word and working together as easily as breathing. He knew that he loved her, she had somehow managed to crawl through all those walls around his heart and all his defenses and before he entirely knew what she was doing she was just there and he loved her.

There was a part of his mind what whispered that maybe she loved him back but a girl like her would have options and he didn’t want to limit her choices. Her friendship was far too precious to lose and if he somehow managed to mess this up by telling her his feelings then things wouldn’t be the same. He had almost lost Lily and there was no way he was going to endanger this as well. 

Hadrian was watching Severus and Hermione and he caught it by accident, it was Severus’s big moment when he finally realized that he was in love with his sister and he could also see that Hermione was too busy reading whatever book that was to realize that he finally figured it out and knowing the bloody idiot he probably thought that she didn’t feel the same while Hermione was busy thinking the same damn thing to herself. Hadrian and Neville shared a look, these two would need help and they probably would beat Lily and Draco to the snogging punch.

“They’re all bloody oblivious.” Muttered Hadrian while Neville just stared at him with a ‘seriously’ look on his face. Hadrian just returned the look with one of his own that basically screamed, ‘what are you talking about?’

Neville rolled his eyes, “At least they have made some sort of progress, you on the other hand are blind, deaf and dumb when it comes to a certain dog.”

Hadrian crossed his arms and huffed at his brother, “He doesn’t mean it not really. All Sirius Black wants is just another lay and after a little while he’ll get bored and then he will forget all about me. Give him enough time and he’ll stop chasing me.”

Neville face-palmed, “Its been months and he hasn’t stopped flirting with you.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes, “He also hasn’t stopped sleeping around Nev. I don’t want something that means more to me than to him I respect myself way too much to do this to myself.”

Nev just gave him a sad smile and said, “You admit that it means something to you. He is just 15 years old. He isn’t perfect but he is trying, he might not be ready now but someday he will be.”

Hadrian flopped down into his brothers lap and sighed, “Maybe I’ll forget all about him by then. Enough about us, is there anyone you have your eye on?”

Hadrian watched as Neville blushed from his cheeks to the tips of his ears and he laughed out loud but Neville wouldn’t budge or give an answer, claiming he wasn’t ready yet. The two brothers laughed and joked the afternoon away knowing that days of peace like this wouldn’t last forever but they were going to enjoy every damn minute that they could get out of it.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hadrian cursed Fate, Death and even Time if they were listening and he sincerely hoped that they were because just last week he had been enjoying a fun filled evening sitting under the tree pretending to be normal 15 year olds with relationship problems and everything else that came with puberty and now he was back in General mode, trying to win a war and saving as many lives as possible. He tugged at his hair in frustration, he had learned the cold, cruel truth a long time ago, the truth that he couldn’t save everyone. Dumbledore had fought his war and he acknowledged the fact that he would have to sacrifice people, Snape also saw many people who didn’t deserve to die, scream and beg for death unable to grant them any type of mercy but Hadrian liked to believe that he had learned something from them both. He tried to save everyone even though he knew he couldn’t. Dumbledore sat back and just grieved for those that he hadn’t even tried to save, Snape heard them cursing him in his nightmares but Hadrian tried to silence his demons by saving as many as possible even though towards the end he hadn’t been able to save anyone.

For a moment he closed his eyes and he imagined his best friend, he saw red hair, brown eyes and freckles and he was looking down at him with shining eyes and he was smiling. It was a smile that filled him with a feeling of nostalgia. It reminded him of the Burrow and of much simpler times when everything was still black and white, before they had been tainted by death, before they had lost the ‘Golden Trio.’ The nickname still made him smile and even though he still had Hermione everything that he had now that was born out of a much darker, more desperate place. The ‘Golden trio’ were a group of kids that met on the train to school, they solved mysteries and did stupid things that should have gotten them expelled and most of all, it had been so innocent. He yearned for that innocence now.

Ron was not the most perfect best friend, but they had been young and stupid and they made silly mistakes and looking back at all their arguments and fights now, it all seemed so petty but Hadrian couldn’t help but miss him. He had Neville and Draco and he would die for them after all they were family but Ron had been first, the first friend he had met on the train and it was a relationship he would forever treasure. It was also something that he would never get back because his Ron was long gone. Ron never had much tact nor did he have much wisdom in the advice department but he was there for him and welcomed him as family when he had none. He was the first person to give him a place and now with the weight of the world once more crushing him, he wished for his friend to offer up a chess match and laugh as he lost miserably. It wouldn’t give him answers but it would grant him some peace.

“I miss you Ron, its hard being without you here.”

Sirius Black had been sneaking into the kitchens using the invisibility cloak when he heard footsteps and someone muttering, and he made out the words and an utterly unfamiliar name. When he saw Hadrian he couldn’t help but wonder who was Ron?

“My best mate.”

Sirius was shocked to see Hadrian staring at where he was standing even though he was sure that the cloak was covering him.

“That is you Sirius isn’t it?” he asked and Sirius pulled the cloak off him so that Hadrian could see him.

“How did you know it was me?”

Hadrian just shrugged, “I heard you muttering and I recognized your voice.”

Sirius remembered that Hadrian had answered his question, “Your best mate Ron?”

Hadrian shrugged again and suddenly he did something that he would probably regret tomorrow, “We were all separated when we were little and the muggle police were able to track down our mums squib sister. She hated magic, loathed it really, she hated everything associated with mother. I was the only one sent to her and she hated me just as much as she once hated her sister. It wasn’t a happy childhood. All my life I had wished for a family and then I met Ron and he welcomed me into his family with open arms. My best mate, I never thought that I would lose him.”

Sirius looked a little comfortable with all the talk of emotions but he refused to let Hadrian just build his walls back up and disappear. It was likely that if that happened he would never see him vulnerable again, for the first time since admitting he wanted the other teen Sirius finally felt like he would actually be able to make some sort of progress, that he would be one step closer to being let inside that wall that Hadrian had built around his heart and only allowed so very few inside underneath his armour.

“What happened to him?”

Hadrian shook his head sadly, “He died and now I’m left to figure out what to do without him there to offer any help or guidance.”

Sirius didn’t really have the best grasp on his feelings and he was pretty sure he was crap at comforting people so he did the best he could when he said, “Don’t think of him as gone, think of it as if he was watching you from far away and waiting to see what you do next. He hasn’t left you just can’t see him anymore.”

Sirius wasn’t 100% sure that anything that he had said even made any sort of sense but he did hope that at the very least he had brought Hadrian some sort of comfort, that he managed to convey to him that just because he lost someone didn’t mean that their love for you was lost forever, that someday it everything would be alright even if he wasn’t sure how he knew that.

Hadrian laughed as Sirius tried to help even though he looked completely out of his depth but he wouldn’t help but be thankful for the moment of laughter. This night would only get worse and even though he had spent a moment here just trying to gather his thoughts he was grateful that Sirius was here. He waved goodnight and walked off, heading to the room of requirement to meet with Draco.

Draco looked up from his notes and noticed the stress lines on his brothers face and sighed, it was going to be one of those nights where he wished he could just get drunk and forget, where he would wish that Tom would just bury himself in a dark deep hole and never come out because he didn’t know how much more he had to give up to this war. Every time Hadrian came in with those stress lines it always meant bad news and he wasn’t sure how much more bad news his sanity could take. He was just so very tired of this Godforsaken war and all that it had taken from them and he could see the same sort of cornered desperate look in his brothers eyes which told him that he was so tired of having to fight.

There were times when their thoughts got dark and their burdens felt too heavy but no matter how hard it got he knew that they wouldn’t just give up, they couldn’t, they just weren’t built like that and no matter how many times Draco cursed, raged or even drank himself silly they would never abandon this war or each other but that didn’t mean they weren’t allowed a moment or two to wallow and wish. 

“What took you so long?” asked Draco.

Hadrian all but collapsed into the couch that the room provided and sighed, “The Order of Phoenix had another meeting. Nothing for us to worry about yet but I think I finally figured out what killed the Lord Prewitt.”

Marcus Prewitt was the father of Molly, Fabien and Gideon Prewitt. Their mother had died three years ago from sickness but their father had died some time during the year 1975 and with his death came a lot of political headaches. When the Lord Prewitt died, several alliances had fallen though and some families ended up turning to the Dark, the Prewitt family was an Ancient one and he was one of their best politicians. His sons were smart however they were unable to keep up with the political climate and they ended up dead a few years later. His death had been one of the harshest blows to the light in the political war with Tom. It wasn’t long after the Prewitt family had fallen did the Potter, McKinnon and Bones family were all wiped out leading to almost no more political power to the light side and Tom had all but owned the ministry by that time.

Draco wanted to scream at the look on his brothers face, just because they knew what was wrong with the man did not guarantee that they could fix it and with the look of hopelessness on his brothers face he didn’t think that they would be able to save the man.

“Please tell me that we can somehow save him.” begged Draco and Hadrian just shrugged.

“If it was as simple as giving the man a potion or saying a spell we could break in and do it without anyone knowing but this is so much more complicated. Severus and Hermione worked on it during summer. It ended up being one of Bellatrix’s favourite curses. It’s a spell that targets the main organs, flooding them with dark magic until they give out. The only way to fix it is with the ritual that they created to purge the body of foreign magic and some sort of complicated potion. How the hell do we get him to agree to let two fifteen year olds use him in a ritual that they created?”

Draco was ready to pound his head against the wall, cleansing rituals only worked if you have the permission of the person, if the person did not consent, then it was a dark ritual which would probably have magic punishing you in some way (another reason for the snake face when Tom used Hadrian in that ritual) but right now Hadrian had a good point. No one would think that two fifteen year olds would be able to pull something like this off. They would probably be laughed out of the room or something not to mention the amount of attention it would bring to them. Attention that they were currently desperately trying to avoid.

“We will have to sacrifice a few secrets. How much time do we have? We need to know how much time we have to plan. Lord Prewitt is too valuable to lose especially now.”

Hadrian nodded his head, they had come far in the little time that they had been meddling in the war without giving anything away but they couldn’t afford to do so anymore. The closer they got to the end of the year the more dangerous things became and soon they would probably have to show the cards they had been carefully hiding.

“The curse has until a month until his body completely gives out.”

Draco shook his head, “That’s not much time. We will have to come up with something in two weeks, any later than that and the magic might bond with him so much so that it will refuse to leave his body and he will still end up dead.”

Draco went searching through his books for a few moments until he found what he was looking for, “Take the book to the next meeting on Saturday. Give it to Moody so they knew what Lord Prewitt is dealing with and then we’ll talk to the others. Try to find a way to let it leak that Hermione and Severus have been working on a cure. We’ll have to be careful though, if the rumor leaks and Dumbledore finds out about it we could have a problem. We don’t want him suspicious about why it leaked now so conveniently. We both know he doesn’t believe in coincidences, once we are brought to their attention we will have no choice but to step carefully, we will no longer have the shadows to hide us.”

Hadrian nodded his head, they had four days until the next meeting and Hadrian bit his lip, “What if we let it slip before we give them the book? Make sure the rumor has already done a few turns on the Hogwarts rumor mill before we give them the book. Moody and Dumbledore will have to research the spell, probably about three to four days before they realize that there isn’t a cure and they start looking at other options.”

Draco nodded his head, “Be careful how you let it get out though. Maybe some sort of fight with Lily on the dangers of dark magic. Make sure there is a large enough audience.”

Hadrian shook his head, “We don’t want to take the chance that Severus and Lily end up fighting and never talking to each other again. Maybe we can play the big brother card?”

Draco bit his lip, “Nev will have to do it. I am supposed to be dabbling in dark magic, you are hiding your power so lets not draw attention to you and Nev can be scary when he wants to be. Besides the whole shining lion protecting baby sister from the big bad snake is perfect.”

Neville was gone when the rest of his roommates woke up but no-one thought much about it, the boy rarely ever was there when they woke up, choosing to wake up early and find one of his siblings unless they had a prank planned. The four marauders were going down to their common room when they heard the utter silence coming from the rest of the lions which was unusual. They were never a quiet bunch.

They walked further down the staircase and they were all stunned for the absolute rage on the face of Neville who was reading some letter, his magic however reacted violently to whatever was written because there was an aura of pure rage and death coming from him that utterly terrified the entire house.

The letter burned to ash in his hands without a word or even a wave of his wand when he suddenly roared out, “Solly!”

The house elf appeared with a pop, twisting her hands in the tea towel she seemed to wearing nervously, “Master calls for Solly?” she inquired.

Neville didn’t even look at the elf, “Go to your Mistress, bring her to me immediately.”

Remus sucked in a breath almost like he wanted to go to the other teen and try to calm his rage but the murderous aura had not disappeared, however as the seconds ticked by, the room seemed to be drowning in his aura of absolute rage.

When Hermione appeared she was wearing a half her school uniform, she had on her skirt and shirt but no shoes, socks or even her tie and her hair was piled into a messy bun on her head. She was in the middle of getting ready it seemed when the elf all but kidnapped her.

Hermione looked around shocked and then she felt the murderous aura of her elder brother and she felt a cold shiver run through her body. Neville always seemed to be the most calm and collected of them all but that only meant that when his temper snapped, it was better to just jump of a bloody cliff because the target of all that power and rage was down right terrifying.

Before Hermione could even speak Neville wrapped a hand around her throat and lifted her off the ground, “As the Lord of your Birth House sister you will answer my questions honestly or I will fucking kill you where you stand. Am I understood?”

Several purebloods went nearly catatonic at the use of his power as not only her elder brother, but as the Lord to her house. If she lied Neville would have to kill her, Olde magic like this that linked pureblood families to their blood were so dangerous, which was one of the reasons that Lords never invoked it unless absolutely necessary, while those who were muggle raised asked for explanations as others whispered out that Hermione must have done something really bad for Neville to go this far.

“Have you been studying Dark Magic?” asked Neville.

Hermione nodded her head.

Several people gasped but others weren’t so sure why he was going to such an extreme if all she was doing was reading about Dark Magic.

“Have you been experimenting with it?”

“Kind off.”

Neville turned his back to her and walked away, putting some distance between them before he burst out laughing while to others it seemed like he was distancing himself.

“Explain.”

Hermione bit her lip, “We were trying to create counter curses. Its only so dangerous because it cannot be undone, we were trying to fix the damage or at least stop it.”

“Have you been successful?”

Hermione nodded her head.

“When you say we you are talking about Severus.”

She nodded her head again and the murderous aura disappeared.

“Silly girl, I warned you when you said you were spell creating. Be careful with that magic but as long as you aren’t using it then everything is alright. You know better, stay safe. Solly take her back and return home.”

Neville disappeared out of the common room and Hadrian and Draco smirked in victory as by lunch time the story had spread to the Professors. Now all they all had to do was be patient for a little longer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was getting too long so I kinda just cut if off without going into much detail which I will add in the next chapter. The ritual isnt based on anything. I looked up cleansing rituals but nothing felt like how I wanted to write it so I just added my own thing that I thought up in my head. Please dont come after me with flames because it isnt realistic or if you think I stole something and cut out parts from a real ritual I didnt... i made it up.

Chapter 10

There were few times when Albus Dumbledore felt his age and reading from the book that Hades had gifted Alastor made him feel all his decades of stress and sadness. Albus felt that the Phoenix was a bit strange especially since the bird only ever concerned himself with the war, he had never come across a Phoenix who would be so invested in the human politics, Fawkes did provide him with a great deal of comfort and help but he also kept his own involvement to a minimum since his only concern was mostly for his bonded one. Hades was an unusual one who chose to involve himself greatly in the war but since he had no reason to believe different it seemed like a miracle in the war, a secret weapon.

There was the question of where the bird had gotten the book but then again the bird could flame through any wards and simply travel away with the book from anywhere and no wizard would ever know since flame travel was so rare. Albus hated Dark Magic and everything it had represented. It had taken a man that he dearly loved, a man who dabbled with things that he could not control and in the end it consumed him until it destroyed him. Albus felt so much shame when he thought of Gellert and everything that he had managed to get away with because Albus had allowed himself to be blinded by love, had allowed him to over-look his own common sense when it was screaming at him that the things Gellert was dabbling in was dangerous and instead smothered the voice of his conscience and allowed himself to be taken in by sweet words and promises.

He had no one to blame but himself for Arianna. He allowed his lust for power to be fuelled by Gellert while they made their plans for the future, plans that Gellert changed to suit his own war and started a bloody battle over many different continents that lasted decades. He had been terrified to face him but in the end he had done so and to his own eternal shame he knew he only faced Gellert because he did not want his past to become public something that was possible if the war had come to Britain. He ended the war not because of the evil that was going on but because he could no longer close his eyes and pretend it didn’t exist.

He supposed in some ways he hadn’t really changed. He still hoped for the best in people even though he knew that not all people were kind, he still gave too many chances to those who did not deserve it, he still turned a blind eye to cruelty as long as it didn’t affect himself too much and he still had his prejudices towards the house of snakes. Albus was not so arrogant that he would claim to be perfect when in fact he knew exactly of his short comings and he hoped that he was doing better. He would never truly trust the Slytherins, he was old and he was set in his ways but with Draco Peverell in the House, there was a new power structure and many were insisting on leaving the country he could admit that not all of them were going to join Tom in the war, that they were leaving and for now cutting down his army was enough.

Minerva had been right when she had told him that the marauders were going out of control however this year he noticed that most of their maliciousness had been tamed down and their pranks were once more targeted towards playful and not hurtful so there was an improvement in that as well. He supposed that things were going better this year and he sincerely hoped that this war would come to an end soon even though he couldn’t really see an end in sight.

Albus wished that sometimes he could go back and try again with Tom Riddle that maybe if he had tried to reach him instead of fearing what he would become he could have at least stopped him or limited the amount of damage he was going to bring. That may be if he had kept him closer he would have been able to stop him before he gathered the amount of power that he had now but if wishes were real then he assumed that no one would ever had any regrets. He had already lost a few friends in the raids and even some of the people that he once taught had been killed however Marcus was one of his friends.

The man was in his seventies but he had helped in the war with Gellert. Marcus was a good, honest man and he was an asset in this war. He knew in his heart that even though his sons were intelligent and powerful they would not be able to cope with the political arena now especially since they had never touched politics before. If there had been no war the boys would have had time to learn and adjust to the viper pit that was politics but right now that place was a pit full of venom and anyone was willing to turn on anyone, Marcus was the one holding together the light side. He was their spearhead, he had managed to pull several neutral dark families to their side to ensure that the Dark Lords minions didn’t manage to pass laws which would basically hand him the country, if he died his sons would not be able to hold together that many new and fragile alliances, they didn’t have enough experience and as it was they were holding on to their power by the skin of their teeth but if his research was correct then there was no cure for this with a heavy sigh he flooed to the Prewitt home.

Molly Weasley nee Prewitt was inside with both her brothers. The boys were four years younger than their sister but that never stopped them from being protective of her and then she married Arthur. He was a good man and he made their sister very happy and so they were happy but today they were not here to bask in the warmth of their family instead they were awaiting the news that Albus would bring them. When Hades had brought Moody the book they quickly realized that the book described symptoms that their father had been experiencing and after a complicated revealing spell they found that he was inflicted with a very dark spell. Albus had taken the book and left three days ago searching for a solution and now they were waiting for an answer.

Molly was sitting down mostly due to her large pregnant belly which was once more causing her feet to swell but that didn’t stop her concern for her father. Minerva and the Potters were present as well waiting for an answer to whether or not they could save his life.

“I’m sorry to say that there is no cure.”

Molly burst into tears and both Fabien and Gideon immediately clutched onto their father almost trying to reassure themselves that he had not yet left them.

Minerva looked grim as she searched the Headmasters face for something, “Are you sure there is nothing we can do?”

Albus startled at the almost accusing tone that her voice had taken, “All the books say there is no cure, even if we were to start on trying to make a cure it would take time, time which I can assure you we do not have. The curse is extremely complicated, studying it alone will take weeks before we can attempt to reverse it.”

Minerva had been extremely close with Marcus and his wife Melissa even though the woman had passed she kept her door open for Marcus and always had time for him. He was one of the few people I the world she called her friend and to see him and his children suffer like this just wasn’t fair so she took a leap of faith.

“What about the Peverell girl? Its common knowledge that she and Snape were working on Dark Magic, there were even rumors that they were trying to reverse it. It is possible that they may have a cure.”

The Potters gasped in shock while Albus just shook his head, “I have heard the rumors but we cannot be sure that it isn’t anything more than just that. I admit that Severus Snape is intelligent but do you honestly believe that two 15 year olds can delve into such dark magic and find a solution? It is a great risk.”

Minerva rolled her eyes, “Its worth the chance even if it isn’t written down yet then we can at least try. I would know that we had done everything possible to try and find a cure.”

Albus just shrugged, “I will leave the decision to Marcus. I did not consult them because I didn’t believe that it would help however it is your life. If you wish for me to ask for their help then I will.”

Marcus bit his lip, he honestly agreed with Albus, as smart as any 15 year old could be, it was highly unlikely that they would have been able to cure something as difficult and as complicated as this was however on the other hand he could see the pleading expressions of his children. Neither of the Prewitt children had any clue about these kids but there was a chance and so long as that chance existed they would hope and pray that their father would not leave them yet, not so soon after losing their mother not in times like this when they needed him so much.

Marcus sighed hoping that his children realized that there was a good chance that the only thing that they were doing currently was delaying what he could feel was in the inevitable even though he missed Melissa so very much he also wished that he had more time here with his children, his Melissa was on the other side, waiting and watching he knew it in his heart which was why he knew he had the strength to go on for a little while longer, just long enough for this nightmare to be over and to leave this Earth knowing that his children would be safe and now he was looking at the end too soon, he still had too much to teach them and he didn’t have enough time to do so. Death was not something to be feared but he did fear for his children and what would befall them once he was gone.

The Quadruplets were all sitting by lake with Severus and Lily. Severus and Lily were busy talking and laughing locked in their own little bubble of their best friendship, generally they were enjoying themselves while the siblings seemed to be going over something that dealt with politics another reason the two friends excused themselves into their bubble to give them some sort of privacy. The truth was however they were looking at the bills that had been passed after Marcus had died and they were trying to see how the bills fit into the raids. They were also impatiently waiting to see if Albus would approach Hermione and Severus for help. They wanted to go with her or at the very least let Draco go with her as he was capable of brewing the potion that would be needed but there was also the fact that they got aura reading from Draco. It had been Malfoy blood magic which only Draco was born with after many generations, a gift that was now shared with his brothers and sister. Draco was able to read people’s magic, allowing him to see as curses worked themselves into a persons magic and ate away at them. 

Aura seeing was great for healers, however Hermione had very little control over the power and Draco was the best at reading people. He would have to diagnose Marcus Prewitt using his sight which would tell them how deeply the magic had been imbedded. They were working with guesses towards the time he had been attacked and for the cleansing to work they needed to know how bad this was going to be. It would be a team effort and it would give away a few of their secrets but they needed the man alive however the day was almost over and Albus still hadn’t arrived. It seemed that their plan may have failed until they noticed McGonagall walking towards them quickly.

“Miss. Peverell, Mr. Snape please come with me. We believe that you may be able to help us.”

Draco could see Hadrian nearly sag in relief while Neville just frowned seemingly concerned for his sister, “Professor have they done something wrong?” he asked.

“No child, the Headmaster just believes that there is something that they can help us with.”

Minerva watched in shock as Neville Peverell turned to his brother and gestured with his head that the boy should get moving. Draco Peverell, the Slytherin, rose and helped his sister to her feet saying, “I shall be accompanying her.”

Minerva moved to dismiss the boy however Hadrian cut her off before she could, “Draco goes with them or they both stay here. We do not take being separated lightly Professor.”

Shocked form the amount of authority coming from a Hufflepuff Minerva said nothing as Hermione, Severus and Draco followed after her. Before anyone could stop her Lily reached out and grabbed Draco’s sleeve of his robe stating, “I’m coming too.”

Draco just stared at Lily not really understanding why she would want to come and completely speechless Minerva spoke for him, “Miss Evans I highly doubt that is necessary.”

Lily raised her chin stubbornly, “I’m not here for you or even Mia. I’m here for Severus someone that as Professors you and your colleagues stood aside and allowed him to be harmed. I do not trust that you will return the closest thing I have to a brother unharmed.”

Minerva was rendered speechless at the fact that one of her own cubs trusted her so little and even noticed as Draco turned to her and basically asked her ‘what the hell’.

Lily just shrugged at him, “I really don’t believe that they care about what happens to him, this way you can look out for Hermione and I can be there for him. They might have each other but they need people to watch their backs.”

The group flooed to the Prewitt home where they met the Headmaster who explained everything to them while the Potters and Moody watched as the Prewitt siblings watched each other and their guests nervously. The group were stunned by the arrival of two extra especially when Lily stated quite frankly that she didn’t believe that he headmaster and deputy headmistress cared about the life of her brother and came because she believed that he would need her if not for protecting then to know at the very least he wasn’t alone.

When the explanations were given Hermione turned to Draco, “It’s a good thing you decided to tag along.”

Several people looked at him weirdly because they didn’t know that he would be needed and Draco rolled his eyes and turned to Marcus, “I’m going to diagnose you now.”

Before anyone could say anything Draco’s eyes glowed white and Albus sucked in a deep and muttered, “Aura reader.”

The Potters seemed to be shocked that there was someone with such a rare gift in their home.

“The curse is reaching his heart. We don’t have much time.” 

His words dropped into the group like blocks of ice and they ignored the cry of sorrow that came from Molly. Hermione bit her lip, “How much time? The potion needs to be brewed.”

Draco shook his head, “The pain potions and pepper up have done much to keep him from feeling the full effects but in six hours they will no longer be able to mask his pain. In another six hours, the curse will be in every major organ and by sunrise his heart will give out. I give us less than 24 hours.”

Severus had summoned a muggle notebook and was already writing things down, “Draco and I will have to make the potion. He will be able to keep up with the complexity of it. Hermione, you and Lily set up for the cleansing ritual.”

Draco turned to the Potters, “We need a potions lab.”

Fleamont Potter led them to the Prewitt family Potions lab so that they could begin.

Hermione on the other hand asked for a room large enough to transfigure a pool and Euphemia Potter led the two girls to an unused room that had no furniture inside so that they could transfigure it. The Prewitt siblings followed the two girls hoping that they would explain what was going to happen instead they were shocked to see Hermione silently casting and transfiguring a deep pool with steps on it.

“Solly.” She called out and Molly nearly jumped when a house elf popped inside the room.

“Bring me the crystals from my study. The orbs as well. Thank you.”

The elf handed her three crystal orbs which she placed in a triangular formation around the pool and asked that Lily fill it water. The red haired girl simply nodded and trusted that her friend and her brother knew what they were doing and so she followed their orders with a promise to herself to ensure she picked their brains or how they did this later.

Gideon couldn’t stand not knowing any longer and asked, “How does this work?”

Hermione chuckled at them, “If you wanted to see the more complex preparations you should have went with Severus and Draco. The potion is the complex part and then the actual ritual. This is the easy part.”

Fabien rolled his eyes, “We remember Severus Snape and if we put one foot into that lab he would curse us to hell and back before looking down at us and asking if we wanted to get ourselves blown up and to get out of his way before he blew us up on purpose. We know better than to get in the way of a potions master in front of a cauldron especially if it’s a complicated potion. We appreciate that you are helping us we just wanted to understand what you guys are doing.”

Lily rolled her eyes at him, “More like you want us to explain what we are doing to your father and ensure that a couple of fifteen year olds don’t accidently kill him or injure him further.”

Hermione shushed her, “Its only natural. He is their father and they love him Lils. They want to protect him. The spell is dangerous because its not just flooding your fathers body with Dark Magic, the problem is that its foreign magic, magic that is not his even if it wasn’t a curse it would still be dangerous to hold someone else’s magic inside yourself. A humans body just isn’t capable of holding more than one specific type of magic and as you know every persons magic is different, however this is also damaging his organs. The crystals are used to store the magic, a sample of your fathers magic in one and the other two remain empty. The potion is added inside this pool creating a cleansing pool and a conduct at the same time, then we start the chant, the crystal full of magic acts as a identifier, pulling anything that isn’t your fathers magic out and sending it into the remaining two spheres.”

Molly bit her lip understanding the basics but also realizing the enormity of what these children had been able to accomplish all on their own, “How long until the potion is ready?”

Hermione checked her watch, “You should get some rest. We have at least another six hours before we can begin.”

The time passed slowly until Draco and Severus emerged with a violet coloured potion vial in his hands which he added to the water turning it a pale purple. The crystal that their father had filled with his magic signature turned a yellowish orange colour and then they were ready. Severus had already been exhausted but Hermione knew this would happen and instead taught Lily the chant, and showed her how to feed Hermione her strength. She would ensure that the Dark Magic which would fight not to be released would be contained in the crystals.

The witches had already burned the sage as they waited for Marcus to enter the pool as his friends watched in awe, completely submerged the girls began their chant and the people around them gasped the air filled with magic. Marcus glowed a yellowish orange colour and a strand of magic connected him to the first crystal and then to the next and then the next. The last crystal lost its yellowish orange colour and turned black until it filled, followed by the next which only filled half way until it stopped and the magic disappeared from the room. The link between the crystals and Marcus ended and Hermione and Lily hit the ground unconscious unaware of the panic around them.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Lily had no idea what Severus and Hermione worked on in their own time mostly because she knew they were researching Dark Magic. When Lily had come to Hogwarts everyone in her dorm had told her the evils of Dark Magic and then they found out she was friends with Severus and they all warned her to stay away, that the magic he was studying was dangerous but she didn’t believe them. In her 11 year old mind Severus was her friend and she believed in him until she took a look into one of his books. 

The spells and potions inside described things that gave her nightmares for months and it terrified her and for the first time she saw Severus the way everyone else saw him. She saw him read and understand things so very much above their level and it scared her, everyone always told her that she very intelligent and she had a bright future but thinking back she knew her friend was so very far ahead of the rest of her year mates that he had been bored, studying ahead more and more advanced things and no one wanted to reward him for it because his intelligence scared them.

It was also around that time that Lily had forbidden him from talking about Dark Magic; she just didn’t want to know the things he knew because she knew the truth. The only way to create a counter spell would be if one was able to master the spell as well and she didn’t want to know how dangerous he could be and then Hermione had come and she realized how foolish and naïve her thinking truly was. The only thing Hermione told her was that magic was neither light nor dark, it was a gift, and the only thing that should be judged was the actions of the person and not the magic itself. She realized that she was looking at the world in light or dark and not in the shades of grey that Severus Snape had always lived in a world that she was never able to fully understand because she had never suffered.

Her family lived in a good home, with a stable income, two loving parents and a sister that when she wasn’t going completely insane at the mention of magic once loved her. She never struggled much for anything, not the way her friend did, for money, food, clothes and even love which was why she couldn’t understand him. She had no idea how to reach him as he lost himself into that world of bitterness and hatred until he met Hermione. She had managed to guide him out of that deep hole that he was digging himself into and she finally gathered the courage to actually try and understand what he was doing only to be completely lost on the theory but she was able to understand that he was truly trying to help people at least with Hermione by his side she was sure that he had managed to actually set himself on a path to doing something good whereas before all he was doing was researching and learning.

Which was the reason why when Professor McGonagall came and practically demanded that Severus and Hermione follow her she immediately rushed to his side. She was sure that Hermione would defend him until her last breath but Hermione had her brother and it seemed only fair that Severus have someone at his side, even if it was only for moral support and the honest truth was that she wanted Severus to know that she would support him truly this time. Her housemates had once managed to put doubt in her mind about his character and after the summer that she had shared with him this time she knew better and she wanted him to know that she would stand by his side even if they both didn’t know what was going on that was fine, even if the world would turn from him once again she didn’t care, she finally found her friend, the boy that she always knew he would be and she knew what kind of man he would become and she wanted to support him and because she honestly and truly did not trust that anyone else gave a damn about him. No one had ever tried to truly understand him they all just looked at his grumpy out look on his life, no one ever knew him and so it was easier to hate him and she couldn’t just let him go and wait for him to come back she probably would have lost her mind waiting to hear back from him.

Hearing that the Headmaster needed her friends help had thrown her so much that she almost missed the big reveal that Draco was an aura reader something that he had never told her and once more she was shocked. It also made her come to terms with the fact that even though she and Draco cared very much for each other, they had a lot in common and even spent a lot of time with each other Draco never really spoke about himself. He spoke about his brothers and their time together, they spoke about the present, Hogwarts, classes and everything that happened recently but nothing personal even though she shared a lot of her family history and general stuff about herself Draco never told her much about his life before he came to Britain and her not knowing about this power was just another thing that she did not know. It was also something that she filed away to deal with later, right now Hermione was explaining the ritual and she was terrified that she would mess it up and cause the poor man to die.

“Why can’t we use someone with more experience?” asked Lily, looking around she saw the Potters, and the Prewitt’s.

Hermione shook her head, “Rituals work best when the magic is balanced. If two people cast the same spell at the same time there will be a difference in the strength, in the control over the spell however when two people do a chant in a ritual there cannot be too much of a lull in the strength or in the control. Professor McGonagall is much older than us her magic has already matured but also has become refined, her control due to her mastery is basically absolute, she cannot chant with me, my magic is too young, not yet matured and still growing the gap is too big, same goes for the Headmaster and the Potters. Mrs. Weasley is pregnant her baby’s magic interferes with her magic causing it to be unstable and her brothers are in the same boat, over the age of 17 with their majority already reached. You and I are close in age and power levels, if we chant together we can maintain the rituals balance.”

The people listening were stunned at the amount of knowledge the 15 year old girl carried and the depth of the knowledge. Lily merely nodded her head and went back to learning and trying to understand what they were going to be doing.

Lily was acting as Hermione’s anchor, giving her a lifeline back to reality, her magic also provided Hermione with strength as she separated the magic flowing through the room. When Marcus submerged himself into the pool, all three of them had been connected. The crystals served as storage however it was Hermione who was separating the magic into the containers.

Both girls felt the strain of what they were doing, dealing with magic in such a pure and exposed form took a lot of energy, more energy than Hermione had available right now. The ritual would have worked best when she was in her 19 year old body however this body had not yet been conditioned for this type of magic. She could feel the Dark Magic being contained and she could also feel the clean pure magic of Marcus being returned to his body however her head felt light and before she could even be a 100% sure that Marcus was safe she had already hit the ground.

As the two girls dropped Draco and Severus were already moving to pick them up and carry them into the next room however the Prewitt twins dived into the pool and pulled their father up, a father who under all the medical spells that they had done turned to the same. Marcus was fine, just tired and would wake up later that day.

Several hours passed before Lily or Hermione woke up and when they did they were both starving. The Potters, Prewitt’s and the Headmaster was waiting for them.

“I’m happy to see that both you girls are alright.” Said the Headmaster.

Hermione shrugged, “We never actually did the ritual before, we didn’t know how taxing it would be but I am glad that you are alright now Lord Prewitt.”

The man nodded his head to her and raised his glass, “I owe you four my life.”

Draco just shrugged, “Your life is important in this war. It wasn’t just out of the goodness of our hearts.”

Draco’s words dropped like blocks of ice into the room and the Headmaster couldn’t help but speak, “My boy, this war is no place for children. Its best you keep out of it. We will keep quiet about your help so that no one will target you.”

Draco rolled his eyes as Lily hunched into herself and tried to make herself seem smaller, she didn’t want to be caught in this because if she knew anything then it was that the Peverell siblings hated being treated like children.

“Dumbledore you forget your place. This is not a school where you sit on your throne and look down on your subjects. This is the table where Lord Prewitt is passing his gratitude to a son of the House of Peverell, a daughter to House of Peverell and a son to the House of Prince. My Lord Brother will be in contact with the Lord Prewitt to discuss a possible alliance. As the Lord of a Minor House with no power, title or standing in society I ask that you remember your place.”

Molly Weasley nearly fainted in absolute rage, “How dare you speak to him like that?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the pregnant witch and her gaze was so cold that Molly actually sat down, “Mrs. Weasley I will ask that you remember your place in society as well. You were raised as a daughter to the house of Prewitt as such I expect that you conduct yourself with more grace considering it was your father whose life we saved. Regardless of age, we are who we are and as such that grants us power, power in a war is always sought and regardless of age we will be targeted. We will not stand back and allow a half-blood with daddy issues to make claims that are false while reeking terror across the country, murdering innocent people in their beds like a coward.”

Dumbledore was slightly alarmed at the amount of knowledge of politics that these children had and he was also sad. They were children, this war shouldn’t have to involve them and now they wanted to throw their lives away while trying to fight a war that they did not have a place in. They needed to focus on their studies not on the war, this was a conversation for adults no matter how much power they believed that they held.

“Enough of this, you children will be escorted back to Hogwarts where you will concentrate on your upcoming exams not this war. It is not your place.”

Draco turned his emerald green gaze on the headmaster and raised a mocking eyebrow as Hermione stood up and removed her jumper.

“It was also not my place to be pinned down by a mad woman with the dark mark burned into her skin as she cursed me until my vocal cords tore, it was not my place to beg for mercy which was never given even though I was only 14 years old at the time and because I would not give up my blood status she carved into me like I was the Thanksgiving turkey. Do not tell us our place is at school because of our age Dumbledore because I can promise you, out there in the real world without your rose coloured glasses we are fair targets.”

Several horrified gazes met Draco’s cold gaze as they saw the word mudblood carved into the teens arm and even Dumbledore turned pale at the mark.

“Life wasn’t fair when out parents were murders, it wasn’t fair when we endured our sisters screams and no adult came to rescue us so we blasted through the wards and ripped apart every person we came across and when the adults finally found us, we were covered in the blood of those older, bigger and stronger than us and we had our sister with us, we survived and now you expect us to sit back and do nothing?”

Dumbledore could only shake his head in sadness, this was not something for children to see or even have to endure but then again they were right.

“I cannot just allow you to join and fight.”

Draco rolled his eyes, “Didn’t expect you too. Neville will work with Lord Prewitt on the political front, the house of Peverell carries a lot of power there and the rest of us can be useful as healers and researchers for now. Give them portkeys, if they get injured or separated then they can escape and come here for medical treatment. Many of the dark curses that death eaters use, we created some counter curses that could possibly save some of your friends lives.”

Hermione rose as well, “Whether you choose to accept our help as healers or researchers is your choice however as a Lord you cannot dismiss Neville after all he is Lord Peverell. We can help you and we are offering to do so where you can ensure that we are not taking unnecessary risks, cut us out and we will take this war into our hands.”

Lily and Severus sat back and said nothing while the two Peverell siblings went head to head with the headmaster and then followed when they left.

“Why did you guys do that? Go head to head with Dumbledore like that?” asked Lily.

Hermione shook her head, “The Headmaster isn’t a bad man and he really is one of the best ways to defeat the Dark Lord but he is very manipulative and short sighted. He sees the world in only one way and if something doesn’t fit into that perfect idea of the world then he dismisses it. He also has no problems with sacrificing a few people if it means winning the war.”

Draco nodded his head, “We want to end this war but not at the cost of innocent people, Dumbledore would feel guilty but he would still go through with it. He has his faults this is just one of them. Just because we are young he won’t want us to help even though it could be the only way to save his Order, people who are willing to risk their lives to stop that monster. We have to fight his thick headedness and the Dark Lord.”

Severus just shrugged and said, “We are your friends. If you believe that you know what you’re doing then that’s good enough for us. Just be careful, you don’t want to make him enemy.”

The four friends returned to Hogwarts and while Lily and Severus went to bed Hermione and Draco went to debrief Hadrian and Neville in the room of requirements.

Neville face palmed once they exited the pensive, “You two really went for Dumbledore’s throat didn’t you?”

Hermione just shrugged, “He was really pushing his luck and that condensing tone of his voice grated on my ears. I couldn’t help it.”

Hadrian shook his head, “No you both lost your temper. Why did we send the two of you again? Neither of you can control your temper when you get pissed and then you feed on each other’s anger.”

Draco looked a bit sheepish and replied, “It wasn’t really that bad.”

Hadrian hit the table that they were seated at and all but roared out in rage, “Yes it was! You both gave away too much. Now Dumbledore will look into our supposed kidnapping even though there is traces of it we don’t actually know what they will find there and there was a reason we didn’t mention it too much because we don’t actually know what happened there. Death never gave us that memory only said that there would evidence of our existence. You called him out on too much too soon. You played too many cards at the same time. We don’t even know if we will be able to get Severus named as the Prince Heir and you called him a son of the house of Prince.”

Hermione and Draco looked horrified as they realized how much they actually gave away without actually knowing it.

Neville sighed and responded, “You both got frustrated and angry that he was treating you like children when you forgot that in this world that’s all we are until you started pointing out how were aren’t. That anonymity was a shield, one that we no longer have, they will start digging into our past now, a past that we cannot remember. Its too soon for us to be brought into the light, we haven’t had enough time but we cannot undo it so we will have no choice but to figure it out as we go along.”

Hadrian nodded his head, “We will have to watch our steps very carefully now as well as try and figure out what Dumbledore knows. The rest of you do not bring any attention to yourselves not even a detention until this year is over. Neville get a meeting with Lord Prewitt and start putting our policies into place. Hermione work with Severus the list of Dark curses that don’t have cures yet. Draco full control of the Snake pit, any opposition should disappear.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dont know how many of you notice but whenever someone reviews with questions I always try to answer and I noticed that the last chapter left a lot of questions so I wrote this chapter to clear up the confusion.. also someone told me that we dont see a lot of Harry and that you wanted to understand how he was powerful since I mentioned it in the first chapter so I wrote this as a kind of teaser of what he is capable off.... there is a lot you wont understand please be patient I dont want to ruin my plot... the reveals shall come later.

Chapter 12

Hadrian couldn’t remember the last time he had been this stressed, well if he really tried he would have assumed it was sometime during the fighting but he honestly didn’t really want to remember because he was tired. He all but collapsed into his bed in the manor and he did not leave until the next day sometime after noon. After the mess Hermione and Draco made with Dumbledore the siblings all but disappeared from public view during the last few weeks at Hogwarts.

They were able to pass much of their behavior off as stress for OWLS but the truth was that they were all walking on eggshells around Dumbledore. Hades had basically moved in with Fawkes, spending every spare moment he could trying to find out what Dumbledore was thinking an how much he was trying to research. 

Dumbledore was good, he had started all the way with their supposed father and the reason to why he had gone into hiding while researching their mother. He had no idea what he had found out but the reports that he had managed to find were good enough at that point that he stopped looking into the family however he was currently looking into their separation and their Godfather. Hadrian was also sincerely hoping that he wouldn’t find out anything about their Lordships because Neville was Lord Gryffindor not Lord Peverell. Technically Draco wasn’t wrong to refer to Neville as his ‘Lord brother’ because it was the truth their lie however came into play when they realized that it was the wrong brother and if they really wanted too they could sue Neville for ‘line theft’ even though Hadrian had known that what was happening.

Neville was their best bet to play with politics since he was a Gryffindor which meant that people would almost always believe that he would be on the light side and no one would be surprised when Neville voted for equality, he would also be able to make more alliances as well as voice his opinion to the light side to ensure that they take a more aggressive stance on the Death Eaters earlier. If Hadrian was put into the spotlight now then people would watch him closely something that they were all actively avoiding. Draco was a Slytherin it would take too much time for people to trust him, there was too much suspicion on him and unfortunately for Hermione, the political arena was mostly dominated by males. 

While wizards didn’t have the same view as muggles when it came to women it didn’t change the fact that women getting involved with politics was still not something that was seen very often. Witches were born with the same amount of power that wizards were born with as such they didn’t have the same issue with muggle women and men who had their society dictated by who was stronger. There were even several Houses which were maternal passed from mother to daughter. Gay marriages were more accepting in the magical world as well since blood adoptions existed however during times of war women were kept safe as they were the only ones who could carry more children. Their population was already small, they needed their women as safe as possible which was why right now the political arena was a cesspit. Hermione also had other tasks and research, she didn’t have the time to deal with them which brought the entire cycle back to Neville who was not yet ready to announce his title as Lord Gryffindor that would only put a target on his back so large that Tom would start hunting them to completely destroy the last ancestor left of the founders. He had targeted what was left of the founders lines in the second war and they couldn’t afford that much attention on them especially since they were still in Hogwarts.

Hadrian groaned as he rolled off his bed and saw an amused Hermione watching him from the door way, “Still stressing over everything that has been happening?” she asked.

Hadrian nodded his head, “I don’t exactly have a mind link with him anymore to know what he is thinking. This past year many of his plans have fallen through, Sirius even got the Lord Black to come back to Britain and deal with their family, Tom has taken some heavy blows and things are still more or less quiet. Don’t you think its strange?”

Hermione nodded her head thoughtfully, “I did think it was strange however we still don’t know the extent of his madness. When he was brought back in our time he was unstable and that could clearly be seen even his followers knew it but now we don’t know what his state of mind is. He created the horcruxes but did it immediately cause his mind to slip or did it happen slowly and the resurrection made it worse? I hate to say it but we might need a look at Tom so we can have an idea of what we’re dealing with. The Tom that we are used to dealing with had sever anger issues and his moves were not all logical, he used violence as a weapon and ruled through fear, things haven’t reached the level that we are used to dealing with yet, we don’t know whether or not a response like this is normal or not.” 

Hadrian threw a knife at the dart board set up in his room in frustration and replied, “I know but the bastard just won’t show his face. We don’t know what we’re dealing with because he hasn’t appeared, the public still think of him as some sort boogeyman even though his servants are running around trying to cause a panic, a panic that won’t start because we saved many of those lives. While saving people is a good thing it doesn’t change the fact that no one is actually taking the threat seriously.”

Hermione slowly exited the room and left her brother to work off his stress, ever since they had returned from Prewitt manor Hadrian had been bound tighter than a snake and she was shocked that he hadn’t snapped at someone in the school. She thought it would probably be best if she returned to Severus, he had started to slowly try to change into his animagus form and it seemed like his form would be a crow. She found that the bird oddly suited him and it had taken him most of the year in his own free time to study the work so that he would be able to do it. His Transfiguration marks however did go up and he was sure that he managed to get an O on his OWLS.

The summer passed slowly yet quickly at the same time before they knew it already two weeks had already past and there were still no leads on what Tom could be doing. On the other hand, Severus had managed to get an actual job this summer in a potions shop in the Alley. The man had been deeply impressed by his skill and offered an apprenticeship to him, he would work during all his school holidays and if he was able to meet the requirements then he would graduate Hogwarts with a Mastery in Potions. Hermione had been proud and it seemed like this time Severus would go down in History as the youngest person to gain an Mastery even earlier than he had managed too in the previous timeline.

Hermione had dragged Hadrian out of his room while she ran some errands and then she was going to visit Severus. Hadrian had spent the past two weeks either camping out with Fawkes as Hades or stuck to his bed or working himself to death. He needed some fresh air and he needed to stop stressing so much even though she was worried she couldn’t have Hadrian go through some sort of mental breakdown. They just didn’t have the time for that, maybe after the war.

Hadrian drew the hood of his black cloak over his head and sighed, he was not going to have some sort of mental break down however Hermione could be stubborn and pig headed and when she refused to listen it was just easier to give in and let her have her way. He just really needed to feel needed. Hadrian had never done well as acting as the General in the war because it was always the General who was played last, as the trump card. Hadrian had spent nearly an entire year off the chess board, being hidden by his siblings, ensuring that he would be over shadowed, making sure that he was never in the spotlight and while he did all of those things he had moved several pieces into new positions however it didn’t change the fact that he had done nothing useful.

Hadrian loathed being in the spotlight, he hated being the Hero, the boy-who-lived, the savior of the wizarding world. He never wanted any of those titles, he never wanted to be the person who led a damned army in a war that they had inherited, all he ever wanted was a family, something that at every turn Tom Riddle had taken it from him. Hadrian wasn’t just fighting this war to save the innocent, he was fighting this war because of all the people that he had lost even though a version of themselves would live, the people that had died for him that would never change they lived on in his memories but it was more than just revenge it was also about his future. Tom Riddle was like a mad dog, one that would go out an attack others just to spread his own pain and misery. He had to stop him, he had no other choice because they would never just be able to live and ignore and each other, Riddle would always put the ones that he loved in danger and Hadrian would always protect those that he loved.

He was just trying to take his mind off the fact that he had been unable to do anything that mattered, it frustrated him, taking him back to the time when he had been an 11 year old puppet running around like a headless chicken full of rage and bitterness, quick to jump in head long even though he had no idea what he was even getting himself into at the time, sometimes he missed the arrogance of youth, the confidence that he once had that no matter how he found himself in some strange and dangerous situation he would be able to survive. He missed the ignorance he once had, the person he had been before he had seen true war, before he had spilt blood no matter how innocent or guilty he had still killed and crossing that line changes you, it had after all changed him from a little boy to solider.

He pulled the hood of his cloak further down, covering his face and then he pulled on his leather gloves. They actually belonged to Draco, he used them to hide the snake shaped burns on his palms but after Hermione dragged him out of his room he had pulled on the cloak and the gloves and pretended he could blend in with the shadows. He really didn’t want to be outside and the slightly menacing look he was currently sporting kept everyone away from him while Hermione and Severus enjoyed their ice cream. He was happy for her, she had found love with Severus, something that she would live for once this war was over, something that he was still unable to find in either of his lives but then again there was still plenty of time for that or at least he hoped that there would be after all he intended to survive the final battle, with a deep sigh and lost in his thoughts Hadrian took a stroll trying to work out his nervous energy. He had pit in his stomach that something was coming even though he had no idea when it was going to happen he couldn’t get rid of his sixth sense which was basically screaming at him that things were going wrong somehow.

He sighed again and this time he was shocked to see his breath, he could also feel the temperature around him dropping and he turned in horror as he recognized what this was, there was only one creature in the world that brought this type of blood freezing cold and soul deep sadness. There were dozens of them, swarming down into the alley, people were already running and screaming in fear, several people were already lying cold and soulless on the ground, there were also several hunched in corners hiding in terror and in all that horror there was a deep rumbling shriek of laughter.

Hadrian felt his magic recognize who was in front of him as The Dark Lord himself appeared before the innocent people of Diagon Alley, shrieking in laughter in the face of the horror that he had brought upon the helpless. His blood red eyes shone in glee as the surrounding death eaters laughed with him surprisingly enough he still had a nose. He was still bald but having a nose actually made him seem more human, it was surprisingly easy for Hadrian to recognize Tom Riddle in Voldemort’s features this time around, he was pale but not as chalky white as he had been before.

Hadrian felt his eyes narrow in rage and he also felt several arours appear in the Alley and there were about 5 different patronus animals running around trying to fend off the swarms of dementors however it wasn’t enough. Hadrian raised his wand and muttered the spell and watched as a huge Thestral shot out of his wand and started herding the dementors away, for a moment Hadrian missed when it was Prongs what protected him however it had been a long time since he had viewed his father as his protector instead with the amount of Death that surrounded him it made more sense that the Thestral was now his patronus.

Tom enraged at how easily the unusual patronus seemed to be battling his army of dementors ordered his Death Eaters to start attacking. People started screaming in fear and running for their lives as they shot out mass killing curses at nearly everyone in sight. There were several Hogwarts students who screamed and hid when Hermione and Severus jumped into battle and started to shield and hex anyone who came near them. A blasting curse hit the building above them and while Severus was able to jump out of the way Hermione was pinned by the rubble. A death eater saw her struggling and laughed at her while advancing towards her muttering about her being pretty and all the fun he would have with his toy. Hermione shrieked, calling for Severus who was already running towards her.

Tom’s attention had been caught by the girl who was pinned under some rubble, she was powerful he was sure of that, she had after all sent a variety of cutting, severing and blasting hexes and curses at anyone who so much as came near the building however when she was pinned and who he assumed was Avery senior a man who took much pleasure in raping young women violently and leaving them to bleed to death advanced on her, he could see the appeal. Her emerald green eyes were pretty and her hair was a deep burgundy colour which almost seemed black, she was quiet pretty and it also seemed like she was quiet the spitfire however she screamed for someone specific to save her and that irked him. The pretty maiden calling for her Prince to save her, it was pathetic.

The Dark Lord felt his sneer and sent the killing curse hurling towards here only for a piece of marble to protect her as Severus Snape stood against the Dark Lord himself to protect someone that he loved.

Hermione watched in horror as Severus stood against him, as powerful as he was, he was going to get himself killed and she once more cried out this time she called out with her magic as well unaware of the attention that she drew as the Order of Phoenix arrived. 

“Hadrian!”

The call echoed throughout the Alley and even though Dumbledore was about to intervene to protect his students something happened which made every person in the alley pause, the air itself seemed to pause and vibrate with magic as what looked to be black fog rolled over the area that the Dark Lord stood and before anyone could even voice the question, a pair of boots appeared, followed by what seemed to be a boy, assembling from the mist, with a cloak and hood covering his face however it was the weapon in his hand that terrified Albus. A shining silver scythe with a ruby red stone embedded in the hilt. 

Severus dived out of the way and towards Hermione while Tom narrowed his eyes and shot out the killing curse and you could have heard a pin drop when the boy cut the curse in two using the scythe, without saying a word or even casting a spell, the boy sped towards the Dark Lord swinging the scythe while dodging curses and wandlessly and wordlessly casting shield charms. The Dark Lord was utterly unprepared for such an attack retreated, once there was some distance he tried to create some chaos by casting several blasting charms, the boy seemed to make the scythe disappear into thin air as he pulled out his wand and uttered a spell that no one could hear, once the dust cleared, both the boy and the Dark Lord and his death eaters had disappeared.

Albus immediately turned started to search for Hermione Peverell but both the girl and Severus were gone as well. He couldn’t be sure, no one had seen his face, he had barely spoken and had hardly used his wand however Albus assumed that the boy who was able to go toe to toe with Tom was Hadrian Peverell, the Hufflepuff Peverell brother that never stood out amongst the crowd. He was sure that the girl had cried out for her brother, he was also sure that her magic had sent out a flare basically screaming at her kin that she was in danger and was calling for them to help her. The boy had only appeared because it was his sister who called for him. He only did what he did because Hermione had called for him to save Severus because if she hadn’t the boy would have been slaughtered by Tom. 

The more he found out about the siblings the more things didn’t make any sense and now he was left with more questions than he was truly comfortable having because if the boy was this powerful now then what would he become when he came of age? What would happen if he chose to follow Riddle? What were the chances that the boy would follow him? Why did they even fight against Riddle? Could they be swayed to another path? 

Dumbledore couldn’t trust the Peverell siblings nor could he be absolutely sure that the boy who wielded that scythe was actually him however there was something about that scythe, something that he was overlooking and he wondered how important that piece would be in the future.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Hadrian stormed into Draco’s study throwing his cloak onto the desk and sighing deeply. Hermione and Severus trailed behind him, while Severus supported Hermione since her ankle was broken and was leaning heavily on Severus to walk. Severus had no idea what to say or even what to think. These people were supposed to be his friends but looking at what was going on right now he had no idea what he had gotten himself into when he accepted Hermione’s offer of friendship. Hadrian Peverell always seemed so naïve and happy go lucky. He was also a bit absent minded. He was nothing like his Slytherin sibling who was cunning and cruel at times, he was nothing like the lion of the family who was bold and straight forward and utterly fearless in facing his enemies and speaking his mind nor was he anything like Hermione with her work ethic and studies however seeing what he was capable of, Severus admitted that not only had he underestimated the boy but he had also grossly miscalculated the dynamics of the group. He always supposed that it was probably Neville or Draco who was their leader, with the others who merely supported their siblings but seeing this he realized exactly how they had fooled the entire school. Hadrian Peverell was their leader and they were protecting him but the question still remained, what was he being protected from?

Neville was already waiting for his siblings and was slightly surprised to see Severus all but carry Hermione into the room. He sighed deeply and asked, “What the fuck happened now?”

No one answered him, Hadrian chose to drop into one of the available seats and face palm, while trying to see figure out how this was going to impact their plans and the only image that his brain was currently able to bring up to him was the image of a room on fire and a little cartoon version of himself running around the burning room with his hair on fire, he also took a second to muse that maybe Hermione had been correct about the whole mental breakdown thing. If this was all he could come up with then maybe he really did need a mind healer.

Draco took a better look at the three of them and paled slightly when he noticed the shiny silver handle of a scythe in Hadrian’s hand and he groaned, “Why the hell is that thing out? What the hell happened to just running some errands? Did someone summon a demon and you have to bring out that?”

Severus and Hermione settled onto the window seat and Hermione sighed and replied, “He dueled Tom.” 

Hadrian groaned, “It wasn’t actually a duel, I didn’t want to give away my magic abilities so I tried getting him with the scythe. I just shielded against some of his curses and used the scythe a lot. No one saw my face though.”

Hermione just buried her head into the pillow, “I shouted for you and Dumbledore was there. He has to be even more suspicious now.”

Neville and Draco just stared at their siblings in shock not really understanding how they went from running a few errands and getting ice cream to dueling the Dark Lord with a scythe that pretty much scared the crap out of everyone who saw the bloody thing, sometimes they wished that their brother wasn’t able to the impossible like it was as simple as breathing and never managed to get that thrice damned scythe. The power it held was pretty terrifying but it did make an excellent horcrux destroyer.

Hadrian simply sighed and handed over the memory, it was just so much easier for them to jut see what the hell happened besides doing this also allowed them to observe the background people and try and figure out if there was anything else that they might have missed in the confusion.

While Neville and Draco were in the pensive Hadrian turned to Hermione and Severus and said, “You two go get your ankle fixed up while I deal with this mess.”

Hermione also took that as a code to figure out what the hell she was going to say to Severus.

Severus fixed up her ankle in silence and Hermione was busy biting on her lip in nervousness until she couldn’t take the silence anymore, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

Severus merely shrugged, “This is your family Hermione. I don’t think I had the right to pry.”

“Don’t do that Severus. Don’t you dare try and make it seem like I don’t care about you. Yes I will admit that we weren’t very honest with you but we never lied, I meant everything I have ever told you and I never lied to you.”

Severus seemed a bit shocked at her defensive tone but then again he really didn’t think it was his place to demand answers because whatever was happening it seemed like it was more of a family matter even though he was curious he had a feeling that whatever they were in the middle of was something dangerous and he wonder exactly how far into the fire was he going to venture for her.

“I know you care Hermione but is it really my place to know these things?” he asked her.

Hermione was shocked into silence. She knew that the old Severus would have collected every piece of information that he could about the war but that was because he was a spy. He had survived for as long as he had by collecting every bit of information that he could gain and using it to his advantage but this wasn’t the same man. This was a nearly 16 year old boy, a person she cared for very deeply however he was also someone who had not yet chosen a place in this war. He was no longer planning on joining the Dark Lord but that also didn’t mean that he would suddenly join their side of the war and risk his life not when he actually had a brighter future to look forward too. He had a job and was already working on his Mastery, why would he want to throw it all away? Hermione for the first time had to consider the fact that maybe telling him wouldn’t be fair because then he would be involved in the war even if it was just by being her friend. She couldn’t just take that choice from him, she couldn’t just explain everything just because she wanted him to understand, he had to want to understand even the parts about her that weren’t the best and only then would they really be able to be together.

“My brothers and I are planning things Severus and if I tell you what it is then I could put you in danger or in a position that you don’t want to be in so I won’t say anything until you ask me to explain. You need to understand though, if you want to be brought into our plans then you cannot back out, the information you will get will be valuable and it has to do with the war but what you do next is your choice all we ask is that you don’t tell anyone anything that you have seen today, not even Lily.”

Hermione left him there with a ton of questions and wondering if the burden of the answers would be worth it or not. He also felt like his answer here would also determine the type of future he would have with her and he needed to figure out for himself whether or not she was a girl worth dying for because if they were getting involved in this war then there was a pretty good chance that one of them could end up dead. 

Albus had called for a meeting of the Order. It had been a trying day and the death toll today was possibly the highest that they had in a long time.

“Albus why would he make such a risky move?” asked Minerva.

The Headmaster simply shook his head at his deputy and replied, “I believe it was a response to everything that he lost in the past year. Many of his planned attacks and raids had failed mostly due to Hades intervening however this time he did not come. This attack wasn’t planned the same way the others were, those were carried out in the night and most of the people were political figures, standing in his way of politically controlling the ministry, I believe he wanted to announce himself to the public something that we have so far been able to prevent to avoid panic.”

Alastor couldn’t help but ask, “Albus what about the boy?”

Several people nodded their heads at the question all of them wondering the same thing, who was the boy that stood against the Dark Lord?

Albus had no answer to give them and said, “I don’t know. Before the boy arrived Hermione Peverell called for her brother Hadrian however we do not have proof that it was the same person.”

Molly Weasley couldn’t help but ask, “People said something about a weapon Albus. What weapon are they talking about?”

Albus sighed deeply, he had hoped that no one would bring up that blasted thing. He hated when he had no answers to give especially when as their Leader he was supposed to know these things.

“I have never seen a weapon like the one the boy held nor have I ever come across it in any of my research. It is possible that it was something that he had crafted just for him however I have never heard of any type of weapon capable of cutting through magic like the scythe cut through the killing curse.”

Mrs. Potter had a different type of question completely, “Why did Hades not inform us of another attack?”

Minerva was the one who answered that question, “It is possible that he did not know. You must remember that even though Hades has brought us to places of attacks we still do not know why he is helping us nor do we know how he comes across the information. It is possible that this was something not very well planned out and he did not have enough time to tell us.”

While the Order picked at Dumbledore’s brains and Hermione was off with Severus, Hadrian, Draco and Neville were left to dissect the memory of the attack.

“What do you think is going to happen with Severus?” asked Neville.

“Hermione has kept a big part of who she is from him, being part of the war isn’t something she could have hidden from him if they started to date either. Severus will have to be able to forgive her for hiding things from him and he will have to figure out far he is willing to go to be with her. He cannot be neutral and still be with her. If he chooses Hermione then he chooses to fight in the war as well. It’s a big decision to make at 16 especially since he actually had a future to look forward too now.” Replied Draco.

“Basically you’re saying that if he chooses Hermione we get another ally.” 

Neville nodded his head, “Hadrian had a point. If he chooses Hermione then he will have some of our secrets.”

Hadrian nodded his head, “No one will ever know about the alternate time line. That is a secret that goes to our graves. Death was very clear about not telling, I believe we wouldn’t be able to even if we tried but if Severus does choose Hermione then it seems like we get another ally.”

“Is that even okay? We didn’t plan for anyone to know how deep we are involved in this yet.” Asked Draco.

Neville rolled his eyes, “Most of our carefully laid plans are dust and ashes. We are playing a lot of our cards by ear now. Too much happened too quickly completely changing the game.”

Hadrian tapped his chin thought, “Maybe we should start our horcrux hunt now. Things have changed too rapidly it might come back and bite us in the arse if we keep stalling.”

Draco nodded his head and replied, “However we don’t know how Tom is going to react to someone other than Dumbledore being able to give him a run for his money. We might not be seeing him again for quiet some time.”

Neville nodded agreeing with Draco and said, “Doesn’t matter. We cannot take the chance that he will be spooked and change the location of his horcruxes. We can collect them and keep them in the manor. When he shows up we destroy the horcruxes and Hadrian kills him, war over the end.”

Both brothers snorted at how easy it was for Neville to say Hadrian would be able to kill him and Hadrian replied, “He is stronger this time. When we fought before his magic was suffocating, dark and inky however it lacked strength. It was like his magic was a watered down version of what he was once able to access but this time, his magic is strong. He is still vile but his body and mind is still strong. The horcruxes haven’t completely damaged him yet.”

Draco nodded, “Then it was probably his resurrection that made him weaker. His connection to his core and mind is stronger now because he is still in his own body. Can you defeat him?”

Hadrian rolled his eyes, “I am still his equal. We just need to be more careful when dealing with him. He isn’t as unhinged as he was when we dealt with him. His mind is also sharp. He will probably be looking into the weapon that I used to try and take his head off. He won’t be caught unaware by me again.”

Neville and Draco nodded, “We’ll both try and see what we can learn about his next moves meanwhile you and Hermione figure out which horcrux you are going after first. Oh and Hadrian there is a letter for you, its from Sirius.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes and left the room muttering about stupid dogs and not letting things go and a whole bunch of other nonsense in parsaltounge.

Hadrian collapsed into his bed holding the letter and glaring at it. After telling Sirius about Ron Hadrian had avoided him. He didn’t like it when people were able to worm their way into his life and the truth was that Sirius was always a bit of a weak point for him. The person he remembered was his Godfather, the first person who ever wanted him, who wanted to give him a family and the first person who had died for him. His mothers sacrifice may have protected him but all his life the only thing that he had ever missed about his parents were the idea of them. He couldn’t remember them, the only memory he had was of their death but Sirius, he knew Sirius, had cried and laughed with him, cared for him and even saved him and it was his actions that had put his Sirius in the situation which had gotten him killed. Sirius had still come to his defense, came running to save him and as he passed through the veil he had a smile on his face, at peace with the fact that he was going to die because he was dying to protect his Godson and for him there was no better way to go, but the person here was nothing like the man he remembered.

Sirius Black was full of life and laughter, he wasn’t haunted by nightmares and he definitely wasn’t broken, his eyes glowed, his body was bloody sinful and he knew it. Sirius was confident and lethal, funny and loyal but he was also stubborn. Hadrian had refused him many times and he was slowly running out of excuses to avoid the boy. He wondered sometimes what it would be like to be the most important person to Sirius Black and then he quickly shook those thoughts out of his head and stopped playing with the letter. Hadrian took a deep breath and dropped the letter into the bin unopened. His heart dropped as the letter dropped but he still refused to pick the damned thing up if anything this was all the proof he needed.

Sirius Black was bad for him. Harry Potter had loved the man as the father he never had but Hadrian Peverell wanted to consume him. He wanted Sirius Black to love him and only him. He wanted to do some unspeakable things too him but most of all Hadrian wanted his loyalty and that was not something that he would be capable of not now maybe even not ever. Sirius was a playboy, he made it his mission in life to seduce every person he could and when he was done with his fun he left a trail of broken hearts. All Hadrian would be to him was another notch on the post and he didn’t have the time to play the heart broken teenager. He had a war to win, a war that would not be won by him acting like a love sick fool besides he had already gotten one version of Sirius killed he wasn’t prepared to put him in anymore danger.

Hadrian steeled himself against opening the letter when he heard a knock on the door and Hermione walked inside, “Neville said something about a letter.”

Hadrian rolled his eyes at his sister, “Shouldn’t you be with Severus?”

Hermione shrugged, “He is taking some time to decide what he wants to do and that wasn’t what we’re talking about.”

“Sirius sent a letter. I put it in the bin. I don’t have the time to be his play toy.” Replied Hadrian as he spoke he could already feel his sister frowning at him without even turning to face her.

“He might be serious about his feelings for you. The least you could do is read the letter.”

Hadrian shook his head, “All he is doing is enjoying the thrill of the chase. I don’t have the time to try and figure out what was going on in his head.”

Hermione sighed, “Don’t isolate him completely Hadrian. Sirius and James were eventually recruited to the Order of Phoenix. We might not know if he will still be recruited but we might need extra eyes on Dumbledore.”

Hadrian huffed, “We aren’t exactly best friends Hermione. I don’t think we could convince him to spy on Dumbledore for us at least not without giving away a few secrets.”

Hermione just raised an eyebrow, “Sirius Black maybe a lot of things but one thing you cannot forget is that he is powerful. Powerful wizards will be needed eventually don’t forget that just because you’re too busy running from your feelings.”

Hadrian heard her close the door without waiting for an answer and he burned the damned letter to ash in frustration. He may have been running away from his feelings but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Sirius felt anything towards him that didn’t deal with lust and he would not play the role of the naïve Hufflepuff who fell in love with the Sex God of Gryffindor while he fell in lust with every good looking person that walked past him, oh no he had played the fool before and he was determined to never play that role again not in the war or even in whatever game Black wanted to play.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Neville was exhausted and he had been ever since that disastrous incident back in Diagon Alley. He had been running on fumes ever since, he had to deal with Marcus Prewitt and that was a whole different migraine entirely. They were currently reworking the werewolf laws to ensure that when Tom decided to turn his attention to them they wouldn’t have a reason to fight for him. They had done a little work in the beginning but now they actually had the backing to do more and press their laws forward.

They had to start small and way back at the very beginning of the stupid laws that were being passed in the 1700’s and then they were reworking Severus and Hermione’s new wolfsbane potion to show their more humane side of them so that they could advocate for even more rights, all while to trying not to upset too many bigots that would probably impose harsher laws just to spite them if they moved too quickly or pissed off the wrong person. The Lord Black was actually a really surprising yet not unwelcome ally. His name alone made several people like Lord Avery think twice about trying to sabotage them.

Hadrian had tried to keep a low profile and of course he somehow managed to do the complete opposite of that amongst his fellow ‘puffs. He managed to somehow befriend Dorcas Meadows and she was the younger sister of David Meadows the next Lord of the family. They were usually a grey family however they were also wiped out during the war and while they never had a chance to do much in the war the last time, this time they did. David knew that Neville and Hadrian were brothers as such he convinced his Grandfather to listen to their proposals which led to yet another political ally.

Hadrian just said that they were friends and didn’t think he made such a big impact on the girl and Neville didn’t know if he should be thanking him or strangling him because no matter how much time passed the one thing that didn’t change was the fact that Hadrian inspired hope in people, he didn’t force them to his side, they rallied to his cause and the already had half of Hufflepuff singing his praises.

Hadrian inspired people to rise up and fight and this time even while supposedly lying low he still wasn’t able to keep himself from rallying people to their side. Hogwarts was the same, classes, routines, avoiding Dumbledore like the plague and hiding the fact that Hadrian was probably the only person around that could go toe to toe with Tom and not letting people find out that it was Hadrian who had the battle against him. The rumors and the gossip was just tiring. He had taken to sitting with Remus when things were getting to be just too much not a lot of people got in between Moony and a book and sitting next to him saved him from the marauders.

Sirius on the other hand was seen to be alternating between fury and lust whenever Hadrian was around and the bloody arse still refused to even give the poor bloke the time of day, like seriously couldn’t he just talk to him that way he wouldn’t be so obviously mooning over him, it was really killing his reputation and he had the feeling that Hadrian took great pleasure in knowing that his reputation was crumbling. His brother could be a sadistic bastard when he wanted to be and he just knew that he knew exactly what he was doing and he was seeing how far Sirius was willing to let this go.

They were only in school for a month, he had paperwork on top of his paperwork and he knew that things were still weird between Severus and Hermione. They still worked together but there was this tension in the room whenever they walked in and no one really wanted to get in the middle of whatever was going on there, honestly he was pretty sure that Hermione could handle her own love problems, he wasn’t getting enough sleep to even try and work out what he was feeling most days he was operating on automatic.

Peter had noticed his friends stress levels basically doubling even though they were done with OWLS and tried to help whenever he could. He brought Neville coffee whenever he could and reminded him of homework and reminded him to eat while Remus tried to decipher the notes that Peter had written. They were still working on the Divination book and while Peter knew what he was doing in his head trying to explain it gave Remus a headache as he tried to decipher the points that Peter explained. Most of the time Peter had to sit with Remus and he would take his own notes before putting it into the book, it was a slow going process but they were almost halfway through and they both were extremely proud of what they were able to do so far.

Peter had even figured out how to open his inner eye and do something that Neville didn’t even know. He said something about some sort of spirit journey and he was pretty sure that he fell asleep while Peter was talking but he did get the jist of it. He told him that he proud of him and that he was doing a good job and then he passed out again.

Neville was hunched over his books in the common room, he had barely seen his siblings since the start of the term except for their classes. They had all being lying low and one of the ways that it helped to do so was not to spend too much time around each other. Draco said something about the snake pit wanting to test his strength and Hermione was suspicious of some Ravenclaws in her house. She was busy trying to get some information on them. Hadrian was lying low and ensuring that he was completely and utterly normal, he didn’t even avoid Dumbledore, and it would be too obvious if they all made themselves scarce.

Draco was a Slytherin and all snakes avoided him and considering that Draco was the new King on the Snakes it made sense that they wouldn’t be around each other besides with the amount of suspicion that the old man had towards the snakes he wouldn’t try and get close to Draco to figure out their secrets. 

Hermione was different, she was always busy, surrounded by people for study groups or Severus and Albus was on thin ice with him so he tried not to upset her too much. He had done Severus Snape wrong and he knew it so he also knew that the girl that guarded him now would probably tear his throat out in the middle of the Great Hall if he so much as looked at them the wrong way.

Neville was a Gryffindor which would usually make him the easiest target for information but he basically went ghost. He was too busy and Dumbledore knew that Neville was the one helping Marcus on the political front which meant that he was too busy for him to try and warm up to him while keeping up with homework and politics which meant the only one left was Hadrian who forced Dumbledore to tread carefully. All his suspicions were towards Hadrian and while trying to get information from him he couldn’t let him know of his suspicions either. It was a very slippery slope one that he was trying not to fall off.

Neville was almost done with his homework and he hoped that he would finally be able to actually make it to dinner on time for the first time since they returned to Hogwarts. At least that was his plan, you know before James threw open the portrait and burst into the room and shouted for Neville.

“Hadrian, Neville, you have to stop him. He’ll kill them.” He panted out since he had run from only Merlin knows where and Lily frowned.

“James what are you talking about?” asked Neville, his eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hair.

“Avery and his buddies, they did something to Draco and Hadrian lost it. They’re in the Great Hall but the professors can’t reach them, he did some sort of protective magic.”

Neville paled, he knew that Draco had been having issues but what the in name of Circe had they done that made Hadrian lose his shit and where in Merlins name was Hermione? He ran, pushed past James with Remus, Peter and Lily on his heels while James caught Sirius up, at the back of his mind he knew that Sirius would be following soon after.

He burst into the Great Hall and he fought of the urge to put his head in his hands and actually cry in frustration. Hadrian looked wild, his hair was ruffled, he was barefoot and wearing his school pants even though he was missing his shirt and fucking hell, Hadrian had the most fucking scars. They already had enough suspicion on them no one needed the see the amount of scars that he had, it all spoke of a fighter everything that he was not supposed to be.

His teeth were bared like a wild animal and he had Avery’s buddies pinned to the wall however he was pretty sure that pinning Avery to the Slytherin table with a knife at his neck and murder in his eyes was the reason that absolutely no one was getting close to him and no one could bloody hear a thing and none of the professors knew how to get down the shield that he put up so that he could have his ‘talk’ with Avery.

Neville turned to Severus, “What the fuck Snape?”

Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, Neville was actually the brother that swore the most when stressed, and the others actually found it amusing.

“Avery challenged Draco for King but then we found out that they must have poisoned him before the duel and he went down hard. I took him to the infirmary and sent Hermione to him. She mirror called Hadrian, waking him from his nap and then he burst in here, dressed like that, waved his hand and this happened. The professors don’t want to hit it with too much magic in case it hurts one of them.”

Neville groaned and his anger was on the backburner, he needed to make sure that Hadrian didn’t actually kill Avery in front of so many bloody witnesses. He walked up to one of the tables, grabbed a knife, ignored the Professors trying to get him to move away and cut his hand. The blood flared blue against the shield and it fell and suddenly everyone could hear them.

“What the fucking hell did you give my brother Avery?” he all but roared and Neville was pretty sure that Avery pissed himself. Neville fought the urge to laugh at his cowardice.

One of his friends muttered something and Hadrian glared at them, “You say one more word and I will peel the flesh from your bones.”

Neville paled, he couldn’t be enjoying this, he had to stop this even though he really had missed his brother being in the role where he belonged, being their General this was not the time for this to be happening.

“Hadrian stop.”

Hadrian’s eyes flashed and Neville fought the urge to whimper, he hated when he did that but he had to stand firm and Neville put a firm hand on his shoulder, “You can’t do this, not now, not here.”

The smile that Hadrian gave him was a little too sharp and a little too dangerous, “Can I kill him?”

Neville sighed, “Not in public. Common you should take me to Draco.”

Hadrian nodded and walked away but before they left, he turned to them all, “If my brother dies Avery, you die.”

Dumbledore came forward, “My boy, you cannot-“

Hadrian threw the knife and it embedded in the wall next to the man’s head, “Do not get involved in the business between Ancient and Noble Houses old man.”

His gaze hardened, “This is a school-“

“And we are at war. This was an attempt to sway the balance and I will rip out his heart as penance when this is over.”

Neville was pretty sure he was having a mental breakdown, why else would be fighting the urge to laugh at this moment? Hadrian had fucked up everything, they were all now firmly in the sunlight, hell he might as well cover them in glitter, hit them with a lumos on top of the astronomy tower with the way they were shining in the spotlight.

Draco was fine, Hermione had already fed him some of Hades tears just in case and she was going to sit with him for the night. Hadrian disappeared, Neville wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what the bloody hell he was planning now.

Remus was taking a walk, trying to get away from all the gossiping and Sirius and his reactions. To say that he was impressed and wanted the poor ‘puff even was an understatement even though Remus wasn’t whether they couldn’t actually call Hadrian the ‘poor ‘puff’ anymore. Everyone wanted some answers but no one actually had any but that didn’t stop Hogwarts rumor mill. He found Neville by accident while he was walking seemingly lost in thought and he looked, finished, drained, like he was empty, almost as if he had nothing left.

“Is he going to be okay?”

Neville smiled at him and for a moment he was shocked at the amount of pure warmth that he saw in Neville’s eyes. He was always so tired, so stressed, seemingly hunched in on himself trying to keep people from realizing the burden he was carrying on his shoulders and how heavy that burden felt but in that moment Neville seemed like just another almost sixteen year old teen that was just tired.

“Draco sure, Hadrian not so much. He isn’t what people think he is, people think they know him but they don’t, truth is sometimes we don’t know how much he could be capable off because when you push him its like kicking a nesting mother dragon, he will retaliate and when he’s done, there will be nothing left but blood and ashes.”

Neville wanted to kick himself but at the same time he was just so tired and Remus he knew that he could trust Remus and he needed to talk. For so long, he carried the burdens that were supposed to be Hadrian’s and he supposed he did good enough but now when everything that they so carefully planned fell apart he realized how much he wasn’t Hadrian and he had no idea what to do next. He couldn’t even tell what his crazy brother was planning but he also knew that he would follow him, to the deepest parts of hell, he would move mountains on a single word even if he didn’t know why he was going to do it and he would slaughter for him, after all they had all done so, he pointed to Tom’s army and they raised their wands with the intention to kill and he never regretted it but above all they trusted him and he didn’t do anything without a plan, not anymore so he did have a plan, he just didn’t know what that plan was yet.

“Hadrian was supposed to the tamest of you guys?” asked Remus and Neville laughed, an honest to God laugh filled with pure amusement.

“No, you guys just assumed that he was the tame one, truth he is most dangerous of us all after all it was Hadrian who taught Draco how to be cunning, he taught Hermione to use her imagination, to think outside what the books said, that nothing was impossible when it came to magic, it was just undiscovered and he taught me to be brave.”

Remus was stunned, he had seen the three siblings shine in their strengths and to know that they had learned to be these people from the shy, sweet Hufflepuff and then he wondered if James had been right all along, they really had no idea who these people were.

“Your secrets have secrets don’t they?” he asked and Neville smiled but it wasn’t a smile like his brothers that bordered on insane, it was coy and Remus felt his face flush and his heart skip a beat.

“Well now I suppose that you will have to stick around longer and find out for yourself. Think you’re up for it Wolfie.”

Remus gulped, when had Neville gotten so close him, “Its Mooney.” He muttered.

Neville laughed and shook his head, “Wolfie fits too and it can be our secret.”

Remus all but fled but not in fear, it was more like ‘I’m in over my head’ and can’t think straight because my entire face to the tips of my ears are burning and Neville chuckled. It had been a long time since he had so much fun and then he thought of Remus and his chocolate coloured eyes and pretty blush and he had to fight the urge to pull down his collar and see just how far that blush spread. It was fun teasing the boy and he supposed that if everyone in his family had decided to fuck their plan and go AWOL then there was no reason he couldn’t get a taste of something that he been dreaming off since they landed in this time line.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry this is so late but I had a devil of a time trying to figure out how to write this one. One of the comments said to show how the rest of the school views whats happening so I went with that. Also i know lunas mother was named Pandora but i have no idea what her surname is so i went with Moon.  
> Im in the middle of exams so expect me to update after 5 November...

Chapter 15

Pandora Moon had no idea what to think of the Peverell siblings however Hermione was her friend, she was always kind to her and she never said nasty things about her behind her back. Pandora knew she wasn’t a typical Ravenclaw, she knew that sometimes she got caught up in her own head and she could be a little bit dreamy and absent minded, she knew that her boyfriend and his fanciful ideas about the creatures that only he could see made people say even nastier things about them both behind her back but Hermione just smiled and nodded and listened to her ideas never once allowing a single insult to pass through her lips instead she would smile and her eyes would shine as though she knew something that she didn’t and for that Pandora would always be grateful, to know that she had a real friend someone who never betray her and for that she knew that if Hermione ever needed her or she needed help Pandora would do anything for her, Hermione had earned her loyalty so when her brothers went insane, she simply packed a basket of food and took it to the hospital wing to ensure that her friend ate.

Pandora knew that there was more to the siblings that met the eye, she knew that they were hiding things and she knew that Hermione knew that she knew more than she was telling but the girl returned Pandora’s silence with even more loyalty because when people said nasty things about her and Hermione saw how it hurt, the next day several girls grew feathers and clucked like chickens she caught Hermione’s eye and she knew that the girl had simply passed along a message to her brother asking for a prank, for vengeance on the behalf of her friend.

Pandora met Peter because he hung around Remus and Neville and Hermione always ended up with him at some point in the day. Honestly she wasn’t sure how the siblings managed their days or what the hell they did most days, they almost always had at least one of their siblings in their classes throughout the day, they all had different schedules but at any point of the day you would see them with at least one of their siblings. Pandora and Peter were both sure that every day all four siblings met each other at some point even if it was just for a few minutes even though they had no idea what they were up too most of the time.

Pandora was actually very happy that she met Peter, the two had a lot in common. Pandora actually had seer blood in her and Peter was already teaching her how to open her inner eye and peek into the future, it was slow going but he already taught her how to look into the past and present. Remus thanked her quiet often for giving them a new perspective on how opening an inner eye worked as Peter was the Master, Pandora provided questions that one who would be following the instructions would ask. He went back to a lot of the chapters and added in the things that she experienced and how one might struggle. They were also planning on writing another book for people with actual seer blood using Pandora’s experiences. 

Professor Dumbledore heard of their book and actually took the time to read through what Remus had and then gave them a contact in publishing so that they could actually get the book published. For all the man’s mistakes and Pandora knew he had his faults, he was a good man, one who tried to do the most he could for his students even though he didn’t always know how to help them. He had his own bias and he didn’t think that anyone who wasn’t him could be trusted with power, he was paranoid and he was a fool who believed that he could win a war by not killing anyone but the fact was that he really did everything that he did because he believed that he was doing what was right. He was proud that some of his students had managed to rediscover a branch of magic and he hoped that one day Peter would want to teach Divination here in Hogwarts.

Peter on the other hand knew that Hadrian was not what he seemed, everyone said that Neville was the strong and brave one and Peter knew that was true but he also knew that he would rather face Neville in a duel than Hadrian because Neville was someone who you face out in the open and he would fight you with everything he had and he would never fire a curse at your back, Draco was someone who would probably slit your throat before you even knew he was there and Hermione well she would probably kill you with a spell that you never heard of but Hadrian would destroy you.

Peter knew it, he always did he saw the way the other three siblings looked to Hadrian when they thought no one was watching he saw the way he would nod his head or shake his head or raise an eyebrow and all those little things which were clues to each of his siblings to move to do something to act because he saw something that they didn’t and he saw the way Hadrian watched his siblings, so full of love and he knew that the only thing that matched his loyalty to his family would be his wrath when someone crossed him and that day in the Great Hall when Hadrian finally snapped, when he stopped acting like a shy little ‘puff when the snake in a badgers clothing finally bared his fangs he knew that he was right all along.

“I will rip out his heart as penance when this over.”

Hadrian’s words echoed in his ears and Peter knew that Hadrian was not done, that this attack on his family, that Draco almost died and Avery was going to pay for it. Peter also had a horrible feeling that this wasn’t just about Avery and what he had done, he knew that Hadrian was someone that didn’t just anger take over and go off the rails, it seemed to the rest of the school that Hadrian lost his shit because Draco was threatened but Peter knew, he saw the cold glint of steel in his eyes and he knew that Hadrian hadn’t lost his temper not once, he was in total and complete control with every move that he made and that just made Peter even more terrified because Hadrian Peverell knew exactly what he was doing and he didn’t flinch not one single time.

Peter knew that he wasn’t the smartest or the bravest amongst his friends and he knew that the only reason why the Slytherins had been leaving him alone recently was because Remus was constantly with him working on their book so they couldn’t bully him when James and Sirius weren’t around. They had whispered about the Dark Lord trying to convince him that he would be killed but Peter wouldn’t just give in so easily. He knew that he had a talent and that he was good at something and it was something that made his friends proud as well and it didn’t matter what anyone said about the Dark Lord because Peter was way more terrified of Hadrian and what he would do to him if he betrayed his family, because if he turned on his friends then he would betray Neville and Hadrian would destroy him without a second thought if he put his brother in danger, so if the Dark Lord wanted to kill him then that was fine and good, he would probably see a flash of green light and everything would be over and his friends would rain hate on the Death Eaters for his death but Hadrian would probably peel the flesh from his bones, rip out his heart and proceed to feed it to him if he betrayed him so he was pretty alright dying as a casualty of war but he would not cross Hadrian Peverell, nope he would rather face the Dark Lord than deal with him and he was sure he made the right decision. 

Remus Lupin was currently hiding, yes he knew what he was doing, no he was not ashamed to admit it even if Sirius laughed at him and James wailed in the background about Gryffindor courage and something about having a warriors heart and that his furry little problem was supposed to make him fierce not a kitten that hid under covers during a storm. Remus gave absolutely no fucks about either of them when he flips them both off and huddles in his bed with chocolate, because chocolate understands unlike his unhelpful so called best friends.

After fleeing for the sake of sanity from Neville because there was no way in Merlins name that he was actually flirting with him he ended up, telling everything to his friends who either teased the hell out of him for running away or wondered exactly how much they were underestimating Hadrian Peverell. Remus begs them both to just forget about the murderous Peverell for a moment and focus on the fact that Neville was flirting with him and James simply rolls his eyes and says, “Flirt back if you’re interested, tell him to stop if you’re not and if you don’t know, hide until you figure it out so you don’t string him along that’s just cruel.”

Sirius was shocked that James actually gave someone helpful advice and for the next two days no one could find Avery or Hadrian or Draco or Hermione. Neville was seen running through the halls, talking to the headmaster, Professors or going through what seemed to be a ton of paperwork and no one knew what the hell was going on now and since the weekend was almost over several people were worried as classes were the next day so what was going on with the Peverell siblings now?

They got their answer Sunday night at dinner and honestly almost everyone who was wondering what the hell was happening and how the Headmaster was going to handle the ‘attempted murder’ of the Avery Heir by a Son of House Peverell even though Avery poisoned Draco Peverell first and technically started the whole feud wished that they hadn’t learned what was going to happen. No one was ready for the blinders that they were all wearing to be torn off, so far the headmaster had done a really good job of keeping the ugliness of the war out of the school and even though Draco had given several Slytherins wake up calls to what it truly meant to serve the Dark Lord none of them had ever come very close to death, it was still something abstract to them, they were all so young, they all believed themselves to be immortal.

War was something that no one could truly understand unless you lived it, unless you stood on the battlefield and saw the death and destruction especially since it was all so pointless and that was the point that Hadrian Peverell was making- this war was pointless, all it was going to lead to was death and destruction. It was easy to run around Hogwarts and scream about blood purity and that those who didn’t have pure blood deserved to be treated like animals, like slaves. It was something completely different to raise your wand and tear into a persons flesh and watch them bleed, something different to watch as your friends and family destroyed another human being and their will to live by violating them. It was something completely different to see your hands wet with the blood of the innocent and that was probably the crux of the matter, they were innocent, muggles and muggleborns that had done nothing to deserve being treated like they were anything less than human and while it was simple to run around saying those things it was another thing completely to actually go through with the actions and hurt another human being. 

In the end, war was pointless, it didn’t do anything but destroy and take and change people, it made the most desperate men do the very worst things they possibly could all because they wanted to survive, they was no glory, no crown, nothing good that would come from the path that they were so excited to walk down. The Gryffindor’s believed that there was glory in fighting and dying, that they would be remembered as brave and that was a good thing, the Slytherins believed that blood actually mattered, that it made a difference, that it would save them in some way and Hadrian Peverell was here to show them all that wearing those rose coloured glasses would only get them killed, he was showing them that there was no glory, no honor, there was nothing good in this and they would no longer be able to hide from the truth.

Hermione burst through the doors of the Great Hall and made a bee line for Neville who for the first time since his brother attempted murder in the room actually came down for dinner. Both the siblings looked horrible, Hermione’s curly hair was hanging limply down her back in a mass of knots and tangles as if she didn’t bother brushing it, her robes were winkled and creased like she had been sleeping in them and she had dark circles under eyes which showed that she wasn’t sleeping, Neville looked about the same only a little more tired and stressed.

“Hadrian has challenged Evan Avery to a duel to the death for the attempted murder of Draco Peverell.”

Her words dropped like chips of steel throughout the Great Hall and almost all muggle raised students looked confused and it was Narcissa Black that spoke to clear up the confusion and explain how this was possible and legal.

“According to our laws, if two people are from Ancient and Noble Houses they may settle matters in any way they see fit as long as both persons are about the age of 13 years old which includes dueling to the death. It was done because of family squabbles where cousins would try and kill each other for titles or money or property or jealousy. No one wanted the arours involved in politics so the Ancient and Noble Houses were left to solve the problems by themselves so long as both parties agree it is legal.”

There was a lot of talk about how that was unfair but it was actually Sirius that explained, “We’re talking about the Ancient and Noble families, all who hold seats in our government. These families have alliances with other families through marriage or businesses. If the Lord believes one child is more worthy than the other then the eldest may be surpassed for the Lordship, families backstabbing each other, bribing each other, or attempting murder couldn’t be aired out to the public not without causing panic. It was up to the Lord of the House to keep order in his family as such if two Lords decided on punishments privately then there was no need to get anyone else involved and it still works that way now. The moment Avery attacked Draco The Noble House of Avery went to war with Ancient and Most Noble house of Peverell. Hadrian said it himself, Dumbledore had no right to interfere in the business of Ancient Houses, no one can stop this.”

No one liked what they were hearing and Avery had returned earlier that day just an hour before dinner and now that Hermione had basically dropped the ball on them all they could all see the pale face of Evan Avery and the pure fear in his eyes. He never thought that his father would agree to a duel and he had no idea what Hadrian did to get what he wanted but now that he did, he could basically kill him and it would be legal.

Remus turned and faced the door while the Hermione and Neville chatted in low voices about what was about to happen, he could smell the blood lust and he knew it belong to Hadrian Peverell. He walked into the Great Hall dressed in a three piece black suit, his long hair tied at the nap of his neck and his green eyes were glowing with power and his smile was more than a little dangerous, actually it kind of reminded Remus of a werewolf’s smile, all teeth. There was magical swirling around him dangerously and he rolled his shoulders.

“I told you I was going to rip your heart out as penance, I always keep my promises Avery.”

His voiced carried throughout the hall and then he glided through the hall to the Slytherin table, grabbed Avery by the neck and dragged him out of Hogwarts. Several people including all the professors followed them almost unconsciously until they reached the forbidden forest, Hadrian seemed to walk straight ahead to a clearing in the forest where he dropped Avery and walked five paces away from him and waited for him to draw his wand.

Dumbledore threw up a shield between the two duelers and the audience that had gathered, while Avery senior seemed to have appeared out of no-where but then again he probably knew this was happening and had already been here, prepared for the duel. There was even an arour to officiate the match even if it was a duel to the death with no rules, the fact that the arour was here was probably to record who died and who lived and to ensure that no outside parties interfered. 

Draco stood behind Hadrian as his brothers second while it seemed like Lord Avery would be acting as his sons second for the match. The moment the match began Evan started sending curses and hexes both legal and illegal not caring just trying to put him down as hard and as fast as he could without dying but Hadrian danced through the curses not once did he even counter with magic until Evan got tired and Hadrian sent a cutting curse to his knees. Several people winced and cried out in horror as Evan was forced to fight for his life while bleeding so badly and Hadrian merely raised an eyebrow.

“Tell me Avery how your pureblood is going to save you. Show me how your blood gives you to the power to survive. Show me how your pureblood makes you better than me.”

He taunted him and as he did so many people turned from curious to horrified as Evan just kept bleeding, Hadrian showed no mercy as he broke bones and blood poured out of his wounds and he still didn’t stop and when he finally grew bored with Evan he spoke again, sending them all his last message, “Your pureblood didn’t save you, it didn’t stop me and it definitely didn’t change your fate. You are human Avery, you bleed red just like the rest of us and the so called purity you held on to so tightly didn’t do a damn thing when faced with death.”

Hadrian waved his wand and Avery gave one last strangled cry as his heart was torn from his chest and landed on the floor in front of him, Avery hit his knees before falling down dead and Avery senior cried out for his son but Hadrian merely pulled out the handkerchief from the pocket of his suit and wiped his hands clean. He looked out at his audience and raised an eyebrow at their horrified faces and he laughed while they could see Draco behind him rolling his eyes. 

“This is what it means to fight in a blood war and at the end of the day your pureblood will not save you, after all it spills just as easy as any other. The only thing that this war will bring is pointless death and cruelty and if you cannot stomach watching me kill someone then answer this how will you fair after walking amongst the bodies of the dead? How will you be able to face a battlefield with hundreds of innocents? You are all so bloody naïve it was making me sick, now you know the truth and you have only yourself to blame for the path that you walk.”

Lord Avery cried out and sent a curse at Hadrian’s back and before anyone could cry out to warn him, he already deflected the curse and Draco had finished slitting his throat. The man fell and he was dead before he even hit the ground and everyone heard Draco’s mutter of the word ‘coward’ as he followed his brother. Neville and Hermione fell in line as Hadrian passed them and Peter couldn’t help but follow them, Pandora moved to follow Hermione.

James, Sirius and Remus all followed the siblings as well and many were shocked when Regulus Black and Narcissa joined their group, seeing his fiancée following them Lucius Malfoy quickly joined her and Hadrian and the people who seemed to be supporting him stopped in front of the headmaster and they all heard what he told him.

“This is what my war will look like, the bodies of my enemies lying dead on the ground and not innocent people who try to defend and protect themselves. Those who come after my family will find themselves at the wrong end of my wand and unlike you I do not offer forgiveness or mercy, those are tools that will get you and yours killed when your back is turned and if you keep pushing me Dumbledore then I will come after you next and trust me old man you do not want me as your enemy after all Arianna would be so disappointed in you.”

They all watched as the old man paled when he spoke of the person named Arianna and then they saw him whisper, “What do you know?”

Hadrian’s laugh was filled with mirth and it sounded so wrong after everything that he had just done and he simply smiled not his dangerous border line insane smirk but an honest to God smile, the one he used when he played the naïve innocent ‘Puff, he even gave the kitten eyes to the Headmaster, the picture of innocence as he replied, “Everything Albus, I know everything.”


	16. Chapter 16

AN: so… I wrote this instead of studying… A lot of the comments were about how excited everyone was about Hadrian finally being badass and showing everyone who was boss (thanks for all the amazing comments) and stuff but no one asked what happened between him and Dumbledore for him to go over the edge…. Enjoy the chapter anyways.

This is broken up into two parts, we see Dumbledore, Remus and Sirius reactions after the big duel. The next will see Severus, Lily, Peter and James.

Chapter 16

Dumbledore was not a person who admitted his mistakes easily, in fact he was the type of person who insisted that he hadn’t screwed up as much as possible, it took a lot for him to realize that he messed up and even when he miscalculated he always tried to find a way to use his mistakes in his plans but this time there was no covering up the fact that he had messed up, he pushed too hard and too far and someone finally called his bluff and when it happened he was left to try and piece back his plans from the utter and compete destruction that Hadrian Peverell had caused.

He had underestimated the boy, he thought the true danger would come from his Slytherin brother but he was wrong and it was so glaringly obvious now he actually didn’t know where to go from here. Dumbledore had been watching the siblings carefully, Neville was a good politician, probably one of the best there was and working with a genius like Marcus the two of them were dominating the political area and he knew that Tom was infuriated with how little progress was currently happening because the light fraction were not only pulling many of the grey families to their side but everyone who did side with them disappeared from the public eye, making it nearly impossible for him to kill of his enemies.

The McKinnon’s, Prewitt’s, Potters, Meadows, Greengrass and Black families had put up their war wards, several members of their branch of the families had either left the country or gone into hiding while their children were safe in Hogwarts. Anyone who joined them in their political stance were being protected as much as humanly and magically possible. He knew that Marcus was constantly wearing a portkey as were several other members of their immediate family. They were taking absolutely no chances after nearly losing Marcus and the entire political fight. He knew that Neville while powerful and dangerous with the right type of pressure would easily bend to his plans, he had hoped to get the boy to join the Order once he graduated.

Hermione was a Ravenclaw and while he wasn’t completely against that House he knew that it was similar to the house of snakes just not as extreme however her friendship with Severus Snape had forever moved her from his reach. It was obvious that the two were infatuated with each other and Albus was not someone who underestimated what a woman in love would likely do when pushed. His dealing with the grumpy Slytherin and the fact that he had done nothing to help him had not only caused Lily Evans to no longer trust them where her friend was concerned but Hermione never trusted him. She hated him and he knew it and he also knew that nothing would be able to change her mind. He would not be able to win her trust but if he could hold the trust of Hadrian he assumed that he would be able to assert some sort of control over Hermione and with her came Severus. He would admit that he had overlooked the boys potential but when working with Hermione their magical advancements would make a powerful force if they decided to fight for the light and he had hoped that by using Hadrian he would be able to pull the pair into his sphere of influence even if they didn’t completely trust him.

He knew that while the siblings loved each other, Hermione and Hadrian had a deeper and more special bond. He had assumed that she took care of Hadrian and probably did as he asked because she didn’t want to hurt him and wanted to protect him, now he realized that he had fallen for their trap. It looked like the more powerful and assertive siblings were keeping their youngest member of their family as protected as possible however that was part of their plans, they didn’t want anyone looking too closely at him and he had fallen for their ruse.

Draco was someone that he hadn’t even tried to learn about or get control over. The House of Snakes were notorious in their need for privacy and no one ever knew what was going on in that house unless you were a snake. He had assumed that Neville was keeping an eye on his brother ever since he had become King of the Snakes and it was because of Neville that Draco had his housemates leaving the country rather than becoming death eaters. Draco was too far from his sphere of influence however he assumed that Hadrian would just go along with whatever his siblings told him to do.

He had been suspicious when Hermione called out for Hadrian when that mysterious figure appeared however he believed at first that she was probably calling out for him because she was with him when the attack happened maybe she was trying to warn him to run or something but then he started watching them more once Neville started working with Marcus and he realized that the siblings had set meetings throughout the day and Neville only met with Hadrian, he was so busy he never had the time to sit down and talk to Hermione and Draco about anything important.

Hadrian had become the common factor and then he noticed that every time the siblings did something they looked to Hadrian for confirmation not that he understood why they were doing that. Hermione would show him books, Draco passed him what appeared to be lists, Neville showed him what he assumed were political documents of unpolished laws in debate and while he could understand getting a second opinion about the politics he didn’t understand what the siblings were up too when it came to those books and lists.

After saving Marcus, Draco and Hermione, had made it very clear that they were willing to get involved in the war and so far they had kept their heads down and only got involved in the politics so now the question was what Hadrian was up too? He went over the attack on Diagon Alley a few more times until he was able to find the proof he needed, there was a person who saw black mist appear and Hadrian disappear just as Hermione had shouted for her brother.

Dumbledore believed that he could force Hadrian into admitting the truth and then have him walk the path that he decided would be best to defeat Tom. He hadn’t expected a third party who would be able to beat him, he had not expected someone else who had the power to stand against him but he allowed himself to believe that he could handle all this and more, that he would be able to have the Peverell siblings walk the path that he set out for them because he was who he was and when he tried to control Hadrian he lost control of everything.

It started out with a simple chat and when backed into a corner, Hadrian shed his mask except what was underneath was not what Albus expected. He thought that this was a powerful youth similar to how he had been who managed to learn some way to channel his power but he wasn’t very bright and would easily be able to controlled especially without his siblings here to protect him however underneath the mask of the naïve Hufflepuff was a Snake and not just any bloody Snake but a basilisk.

There was nothing that he could do, both Lord and Heir Avery were dead. He had tried so hard the entire weekend, calling for meetings, trying to put a stop to the duel, to make it illegal, to stop the boy from taking action in this manner, a manner where he killed people and it was still legal, he couldn’t understand why no one understood why those laws needed changing, that killing people was not the way to live. He tried to talk to Hadrian but Neville met him every time and the boy was unflinching in the face of everything that Dumbledore said, did or even threatened. He believed that his brother was doing what was best and even if he burnt down the entire world to accomplish his goal, he knew those siblings would stand by him and if he asked, they would fan the flames at a moments notice.

The entire school saw not only his power but his brutality and the brutality of war. He had hoped to keep the ugliness of war out of Hogwarts for as long as humanly possible and this one boy had brought it to their front steps in one weekend. He still believed that the children shouldn’t be allowed to learn such nonsense, to see these horrible, ugly truths and that it wasn’t their place or their battle but Hadrian and his siblings proved that the youth were stronger than he believed and that they were also capable of terrible things. His beliefs were being challenged and his faith was shaking, he no longer knew what to believe or to think.

However it wasn’t just what Hadrian had done that shook him to his core but what he had said after, the boy knew about Arianna and he said that he knew everything and now he was left to wonder exactly what did that mean and how much did he know and what was he going to do with that information. His life and his mistakes with Gellert were made a long time ago, his relationship with the man had happened nearly a century ago and to everyone else in the world they had only met during the war which was now nearly 50 years ago. 

However the boy hadn’t mentioned Gellert, he mentioned Arianna, which meant that he knew about the Dumbledore family. He knew more than he was telling but the fact that even knew he had a sister was more than enough because if he knew that she had lived then he probably knew how she died, he didn’t mention Gellert, that would have brought more attention than needed, the name was too famous, but the name Arianna was unknown. 

No one knew what he was referring too which was why he had done so, now the whole world would be busy wondering who this person was and why she mattered so much, questions that he couldn’t answer, things that he spent his entire lifetime hiding being laid bare in front of the world because of a teenager, it was pathetic and at the same time terrifying, if this was how he treated people who annoyed him then what was he going to do to someone who truly angered him? The image of him summoning the heart of Evan flashed through his mind and there was a small voice at the back of his mind saying, ‘he rips out their hearts you dumbass.’

Dumbledore sighed and gazed at his chessboard which was meant to reflect the battle between light and dark and he was forced to admit that the entire thing was now useless, he was no longer sure of anyone or their placements on the board and for the first time since he had been a love struck fool who allowed Gellert to blind him to their wrong doing, he had no idea what to do or where to go from here, his roots were shaken to their very core and for the first time in a very long time Albus Dumbledore knew fear, for the future, of the unknown and of the outcome of this war. The only question that he kept coming back too was whether or not Hadrian Peverell would save them or become their next nightmare.

Remus Lupin was sitting by the fire in the common room, there was silence throughout the house, no one had stuck around, once Hadrian had delivered his message to the Headmaster, one that he filed away to think about later because he had no idea what could possibly scare the greatest wizard of all time like that, the Peverell siblings disappeared. Hadrian nodded his head towards the staircase and Hermione bid goodnight to Severus and led her siblings to only Merlin knew where. The group that had gathered around them, were smiled at gently by Draco and he nodded them to go to their common rooms and followed his siblings, they knew that what they did was appreciated but the siblings needed to talk without anyone around so they all just scattered and eventually they all ended up in their dorms thinking about everything that had just happened.

It was an extremely somber affair, no one was ready to see that but then again could one who never experienced war, death and destruction ever truly to ready to face it? His words haunted them all, all those things about bravery and how it was stupid, how there was no honor in war or in death about how this entire war was pointless but it didn’t change the fact that people would fight and die, people that they loved, that once they chose to fight it would change them. Sirius and James used to joke about how they would be heroes and go out and save people but no one ever spoke of the costs, of the losses, of the people that couldn’t be saved and of the innocent people who would get caught in the crossfire. It was an extremely hard pill to follow that everything wouldn’t be roses and sunshine forever and that with came death and uncertainty and in those times people would change and become the people they said they would never be or never expected to become. It was a scary thought for the future.

Remus was waiting, he wanted to go up to his dorm and his bed but he was too restless, he couldn’t ignore the fact that Neville wasn’t there and as much as his mind raced as overwhelmed as he felt, he needed to wait for Neville to come back. He needed to know that he was alright and that he would go to bed and even though it wouldn’t grant him any answers, it would give him peace of mind on that one thing and everything else, well they could figure it out later, once the shock passed and they truly came to terms with what had happened and how it had effected them all, things were never going to be the same but for now he could do something, he could wait for Neville, so he picked up his book to keep his mind a little bit occupied even if he had to re-read the same page at least three times before understanding what it said and he waited.

Sirius Black couldn’t help but be extremely satisfied with how that duel (cough) slaughter had turned out. It was bloody and terrifying but the one thing that he knew hit a lot of the people in the school was when Hadrian announced to the world that Avery’s ‘pureblood won’t save you’, it changed everything especially when both Lord and Heir Avery were wiped from existence. Sirius also realized that as a Black especially since he was the next Lord Black and his grandfather was currently causing drama for every supporter of the Dark Lord and systematically destroying them all, it was time to take this seriously. He had power and skills, and if he wanted to stand beside someone like Hadrian Peverell equally then he needed to earn a place by his side.

It had all been so easy when he was running from his mother and her beliefs, when he and James were able to look at the world in black and white, when he was able to say that all Slytherins were evil and all Gryffindor’s were good but not only had Hermione forced him to face the issues that he had been running from and lying to everyone including himself about but then his Grandfather had come back home, killed his mother and taken control of the family.

He had once been so sure that Bellatrix would end up marked by the Dark Lord and insane, she was never the most stable of his cousins, she was a little more violent and unhinged even from a young age the Black madness ran strong in her. He knew that if she was exposed to anymore dark magic, if she were marked and probably punished using dark magic then her fragile mind would shatter entirely and she would be a force of death and destruction. Narcissa and Andy were different but it was definitely Andy that was the sanest, Narcissa was probably on the same level as he was but Bella was something else entirely. There were some people in his family who were known to enjoy the pain cast upon them and on others and Bella was someone who had the potential to break and become a monster of their own making.

However, the only thing stronger than Bella’s Black madness was probably her beauty however when their Grandfather arrived and her parents banished things had drastically changed. Her forced engagement to Lestrange had been destroyed and she married Malcolm McKinnon, a cousin of Marlene. He wasn’t in line for the Lordship but he was a pureblood with little inbreeding in the family and he was of a strong mind and he was a grey wizard. He didn’t support Voldemort and as soon as they married they left the country. She still wrote to her sisters and Grandfather, they were never close and probably never would be but Bella had been well and truly tamed.

Andy was going to marry her muggleborn boyfriend soon and they would keep the Black name and Narcissa was truly happy with Lucius so that was enough for him. Regulus had not chosen a bride and probably wouldn’t, not until he graduated and Sirius well he knew who he wanted and now after today he was forced to admit that it was time to grow up completely.

Hadrian and his family were going to bring forth change and he needed a partner by his side, he wouldn’t settle for something that would waste his time and in the long run end up being pointless. Looking at his siblings it was obvious that Hermione had chosen Severus and whatever problems they were having would eventually be sorted out, she was looking at marrying him and he knew, hell everyone but that idiot could see that. Draco worshipped Lily even if they didn’t make it official everyone could see that they were dating, they just didn’t even realize it yet. Remus and Neville were doing that weird dance and then there was Hadrian who never gave him the time of day because he wasn’t ready and he had known, he was interested but it wasn’t enough because Sirius wasn’t ready for everything that Hadrian knew he wanted and now he could only hope he wasn’t too late.

Nothing that Hadrian had done so far had scared him or would chase him away, he knew what this war meant, it was a little jarring but he was quick to put that away, his wake up call to the world around them and what was happening around them was way more serious than they realized happened a really long time ago, most of it had caught up to him but now looking at Hadrian and where he stood, on the front line, ready for battle, he knew why the boy who obviously cared and was interested in him didn’t take the chances he was offered. 

Hadrian wasn’t looking for a quick snog in a broom closet, he wanted something real because he was living in world where it was possible to lose everything and everyone he had ever loved at a moments notice, he wanted a love of a lifetime and that came with commitment and promises and strings, all the things that no matter how much he wanted Hadrian he was still trying to avoid him and now, he wanted all those things as well because nothing was going to stop him from taking part in this war but he also didn’t want to die alone, or without saying that he had loved, really loved someone so it was worth it, he wanted to fight this war and he wanted to do it with someone worth dying for by his side and he knew that person would be Hadrian Peverell, all he had to do now was make him realize it.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So exams are offically over for me and this chapter kind of took on a life of its own and its a lil longer than usual.... happy reading... for those of you who enjoy this check out my other stories... I posted one where harry travels back to when riddle was a kid and one where he goes to an alternate universe

Chapter 17

Severus was not surprised when Hadrian killed Avery, he knew that everyone was still reeling from everything that he had said and done but Severus knew what he was capable of, he might not have said it in detail but he had known. He grew up in poverty, surrounded by drunks, thieves and ruffians, he knew people who lived their lives in the darkest shades of grey possible and he knew what they capable of and when Hermione had revealed that their family were going to making plans and plots and getting involved in the war he knew that the siblings were capable of killing people if they had too and he included Hermione in that after all she wasn’t like Lily, who lived her life strictly in the light and dark, she lived in the shades of grey and when it came down to it, if the choice was between her life and the lives of the people she cared about, she would kill without a second thought.

Severus could also admit that if it wasn’t for the Peverell siblings he didn’t think he would be where he was in life currently. Lily was his only friend for a really long time and the truth was that since their fourth year they had been drifting apart, he was falling in deeper with people who believed in blood purity and she was starting to really look at where she was headed and where he was going and it was in two very different directions. 

The marauders and their pranks would have probably reached some sort of breaking point and he highly doubted that he would have managed to keep Lily’s friendship in the long run, not when he was walking down the path that once promised him power.

He didn’t really believe in blood purity, he was a half-blood and sometimes he was glad that he wasn’t an inbred idiot but the only time that he had wished he were a pureblood was when he believed that if his mother honoured her marriage contract instead of running away with a muggle then he probably wouldn’t have grown up in poverty, he thought that being a pureblood would have ensured that his mother hadn’t ended up living in squalor, that their lives would have been better. 

He didn’t really have much of an opinion on blood purity, he hated his father but he could never hate all muggles, Mr. and Mrs. Evans had always been extremely kind to him even though they were wary of the part of town that he lived in but he could not deny that the promise of power had once enticed him.

Then he met Hermione and got a solid kick in the arse, the occlumency shields that he managed to create had done wonders for his temper and it helped him think more clearly. He had been blinded by hatred and a need for vengeance for so long that he didn’t even realize who he was becoming and looking back, that hate filled, bitter person scared him more than anyone would ever know. 

It also helped to get his priorities straight and he realized how much of an arse he was being to Lily and what a hypocrite he was becoming, Lily deserved a better friend, one who didn’t say one thing to appease her and do something completely different behind her back. His friendship with Lily aside, things in school got better because Draco took control of Slytherin and with the crowning of the new king came his new place as the right hand and Regulus Black took his place as the left hand. He was no longer the Slytherin outcast who had no allies or friends and only managed to keep his head above water by using the favors which he had managed to scrape together by the skin of his teeth, he was someone of importance because he had a brain not because of his birth. 

Draco was his friend but the only reason why he was his right hand was because Draco made sure he could trust him and that he actually had a brain, he wasn’t looking for brainless bodyguards, he needed people who agreed with the way he intended to run the house and he needed to know who had his back. Severus earned his place in Slytherin and it was no longer run according to the purity of blood and money but on brains, intelligence, cunning and an actual drive to succeed, things that the house had once stood for and not the crap that Tom Riddle had made it into during his reign of terror. 

In one lifetime when Severus had become a death eater, Regulus would never have really crossed his mind, when they were in school Severus had kept far away from the younger Black, not wanting anything to do with someone who was related to Sirius Black and when they both joined the Dark Lord they still didn’t have anything in common which would place them in the same sphere and when he was declared dead, many believed that the Dark Lord killed him in a fit of anger and it was what he believed as well, however thanks to Draco Peverell in this lifetime the two boys now friends.

Regulus Black had a lot of pressure on him from his mother to be the perfect little heir and so he had gone to Slytherin even though he didn’t really belong there, not really. Severus noticed it after working together with him to help keep the snakes under control, Regulus was a Ravenclaw at heart, he had a deep love of learning and research and it was what he spent most of his time doing. No one called him out on it as he was protected by Andromeda and Narcissa when he first came to the school and then simply because he was a Black but he didn’t have the ruthlessness that came from being a snake, he pretended quiet well however once his Grandfather had taken control and his mother died in that ‘accident’ Regulus had been happier and Sirius was more responsible.

Once Avery was dead and all the snakes were in their common room, both Severus and Regulus locked down the dorm rooms but he could see how shaken they all were, Hadrian’s words were still echoing in their ears, ‘your pureblood won’t save you’, something that they never believed to be possible, that this war meant so much more than they all realized, that being the heir to their Houses were no going to save them from having to fight for their lives and that their actions had consequences, if they crossed the Peverell family, they would pay in blood one way or another, something that they never truly thought of as they ran around the school screaming about blood purity and threatening each other with the power of their families with no consequences to their actions and now Hadrian Peverell had just used their laws to utterly destroy an entire line.

Several people were thinking deeply and they realized that the Avery line might have just ended, some would probably have to check their family lines but it was possible that the house would pass to a distant cousin. Evan Avery had no siblings but his father and the deceased Lord of the house had a sister who married a Flint, not the main branch of the family but the second brother which meant that if that couple had a child it was possible that the house could pass to them but no one was even sure if the couple had a child or anything about them.

It was a horrifying thought for many sole heirs to realize that this could eventually be their fate if they carried on this path and maybe, just maybe, they needed more children born than they needed purebloods because Draco Peverell had a point, his family were still extremely powerful even though they had a muggleborn mother. It was well known that muggleborns usually carried more children and looking at how easily the war ended the main branch of a family maybe it was better to marry someone who could bear them as many children as possible, the survival of their houses might just be more important than the purity of their blood, as long as they followed the old ways.

Hadrian had hit them all at their cores, they were all human and they all bled red and in their so called purity war they would die needlessly. It was a sobering thought one that had many who were still leaning towards the Dark Lord to take a good look at what a battlefield looked like and realize that they would be slaughtered. It just wasn’t worth it to join in, not when their numbers were so low, not when the cost was so much higher than the rewards that were once promised to them all.

Regulus was good at his job as the peacemaker and while Severus brooded, lost in his thoughts he calmly reminded everyone of why Draco Peverell encouraged them to go neutral and reminded them of all the consequences of the war. Several people were already writing to their parents explaining that the only way they would fight for the Dark Lord was under the imperius because there was no way they were giving up their lives, lines or legacies just because they were too stubborn to compromise with the light and find a solution that honored both sides.

Severus on the other hand was thinking of his relationship with Hermione, ever since she explained that if he really wanted to know what was happening then he would be granted access to sensitive information, he was going to actively fight against the Dark Lord because if he knew these things then he would be a target and his life would be in danger. Things between them had been awkward ever since then because he hadn’t been able to come up with an answer.

Once he realized that he was headed in the wrong direction that would most likely cost him everything if he continued down that dark path, he managed to dig himself out of that deep hole that he was burying himself in and now he had a chance at a real future, he could leave the country and leave the war behind him. A future like that he would have to give up if he wanted to be with her because she wouldn’t leave this war behind her, not when her siblings were fighting and he did want to be with her, he loved her.

He had managed to come to that conclusion recently, in the weeks that they spent largely avoiding the elephant in the room while she gave him space and time to figure out what he wanted to do, she didn’t want to ask him to fight in the war, she wanted him to choose it and if he did then he knew that he would be choosing her as well and while he was busy running circles in his head, they worked on their counter spells and rituals and potions together and everyone realized that things were not great between them, in fact, several other teens asked him if they had broken up and if they finally had a chance with the Peverell heiress, to which Draco would smile, a little too widely and sharply and send them running for the hills as he played the part of the Slytherin dangerous big brother.

Severus had not been surprised at the lengths at which the siblings were willing to go because they all hated the Dark Lord and they were determined to see him dead but what did hit him in the gut was the fact that Hermione had been worried and stressed and she was all alone. She hadn’t come to him because she didn’t want to burden him with their plans even if it meant that she would suffer in silence and he couldn’t stand that, she had given him back everything, his life, his self-confidence and his self- worth and he promised that he would always be there for her and he couldn’t do that when she desperately needed him because he was too cowardly to stand against the Dark Lord. 

The thought of actively fighting in the war terrified him because now he actually had something to lose but not anymore, now he was finally able to make up his mind because he had something to protect, she needed him, her brothers were fighting their own battles and she needed someone who was there solely for her and if that meant he had to sign up for war then by Merlin he was going to do it, she was worth it, a woman worth fighting for and a woman worth dying for it need be as he finally managed to come to a conclusion in his own head, his eyes hardened in determination, a look that foretold the man who was once cunning enough and brave enough to lie to the Dark Lord’s face.

Lily Evans had just watched someone that she called her friend rip out the heart of someone who had bullied her ever since she started Hogwarts for being a muggleborn and his threat of ‘your pureblood won’t save you from me’ still echoed in her ears and all she wanted to go was hide her covers. She didn’t want it to be real. She didn’t want to believe that this was the consequence of their pointless hatred and that this war would truly lead to something like this, that this war was not something that they could hide from nor could they pretend like it didn’t exist anymore.

Hadrian had painted a gruesome picture, one that was probably going to haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life, all she could picture was a graveyard filled with the students of Hogwarts and all of them were dying, their blood splashed needlessly across the floors, mixing her so called dirty blood and their pureblood and it filled her with disgust, was this what they were doomed to become? To try and solve all their problems with a war that was only going to get them all killed and where was she going to be standing when this all came to a head?

She had managed to follow the Peverell siblings when they left the battlefield but that wasn’t enough for her, she didn’t want to stand at the sidelines and watch her friends fight for her and the people of her blood while she did nothing. The Peverell siblings were always so amazing, so above and beyond everything that she had known, they were nothing like regular teenagers and she was honoured to be friends with them but this was no longer good enough, she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t let them fight alone. She agreed with them, war was pointless and cruel and unnecessary but if they wanted a war then she would fight and she wouldn’t allow anyone to harm her family.

Draco had slit the throat of Lord Avery and that was something that she could never forget, he had blood on his hands and with the way he did it without flinching, she knew that he had done this before and he had made peace with who he was and what he was willing to do to keep his family safe. Draco was not someone like Severus who didn’t know who he was and where he was going to end up, he wasn’t like James Potter who lived his life in the black and white of the world, with the lines clearly drawn and that the world was separated into good and bad people. James was at heart a simple person, he was loyal to his friends, cruel to his enemies and he saw the world in a very idealistic way. A person was good or bad and he mostly based that on houses even though she found it hard to believe that person was good or evil based on their house it would have made things so much easier if that were true.

She was never the type of person who tried to understand living in the grey however after meeting and befriending Hermione, she had no time for Lily and her ‘small minded’ way of thinking. Hermione told her clearly after she asked about the work that she was doing with Severus that ‘there is no such thing as light or dark only magic and your intent, what you do with your gift determines what kind of magic it is’ and she didn’t have the time or patience for Lily who never heard of magic being explained in that way. Hermione had revealed the ugly parts of the world to her like tearing off a band aid, quick and painfully. Lily also adopted the saying, ‘in the world there is no good and evil, only people who try to do their best in a world where its far too easy to do their worst.’

She thought that while she hadn’t lived the same way as Severus she did come to understand him, at least a little bit and that was why she refused to allow Draco to put anymore distance between them. She was no longer a naïve little girl, she could accept that he lived his life in the grey and as such she knew that the time would come when she would probably have to do the same and she found that she was surprisingly alright with that decision. She was growing up and while apart of her wanted to run and hide, the woman she was becoming who wanted to stand beside the person she loved wouldn’t let her, if she wanted to have peace and love then she was going to have to fight for it and she would have to be merciless against those who would never show her mercy and so she would wipe her tears, steel her spine and her stomach and she would fight.

James Potter was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands and Peter was sitting on the floor next to him. Peter didn’t say anything only offering his silent support to his friend. Peter had been digging deep into his divination skills and he seemed to have developed a low level of empathy, similar to those who were able to master legilimency, peering into the past and being able to sense a person if you have a sample of their magical energy made him hyper aware of his surroundings as such he was able to get a general idea of a persons feelings based on their magic. It was kind of weird at first but he was also extremely proud of what he had managed to accomplish.

After the siblings left, he sensed that it was James who was struggling the most so he said good bye to Pandora and went to him while Sirius and Remus dealt with their own drama. Peter wasn’t surprised nor was he shocked at what happened, he had known all along, he expected something like this to happen when he saw Hadrian shed his Hufflepuff mask in the Great Hall, he knew that he only person in the world who would terrify him more than the Dark Lord was Hadrian Peverell and now the rest of the school and soon the rest of Britain would as well. He had chosen his side and that was Hadrian’s, now he needed to help James come to terms with well everything.

James knew that he had done a lot of growing up in the past year but this was something entirely different. Hadrian had killed someone, he ripped out their heart and then he cleaned his freaking hands like he just finished dinner and it terrified him. Those weren’t the actions of some knight in shining armor, they were the actions of someone who was taking their vengeance and proving their point. He thought that when he joined the arours it would be glorious battles and triumphs, he would be putting the bad guys away, saving people and proving that the Light would always win but this was never something that ever crossed his mind, the fact that he might need to kill someone, that battle was pretty or glorious and that it might not always be the bad guys on the wrong end of a wand.

He was ashamed to say that he nearly threw up when his heart-his freaking heart- fell from Hadrian’s like it was nothing but a spare piece of parchment. He didn’t even know where he was supposed to go from here or how he was supposed to move forward, his mind was blank for the first time in a really long time. He didn’t know what he was going to do.

“The Potters have always been known to be a law unto themselves, they have never served a Dark Lord or a Light Lord, they marry for love and live according to their values, the only rules they follow are the ones they are able to live by, so James Potter who will you become and how will you honor the legacy of your family?” asked Peter and James just stared at his friend.

“Are you not afraid?” asked James.

“Terrified.” Replied Peter with a shit eating grin.

Seeing the look in his friends eye he realized how different Peter was this past year, he had always been lagging behind the rest of them, not very confident and afraid to voice his thoughts but now he seemed to have grown up and finally found peace within himself. He was comfortable with who he was and he had the same sparkle of mischief in his eye that James did and the same grin that Sirius had when he had trouble planned and he realized that Peter was just waiting for him to get his head on straight.

“But we’re still gonna fight, we’re still gonna follow them and we’re gonna give them hell.”

Peter laughed, deep and rich, something that James realized he never heard from Peter.

“We fight in the way that allows us to look our parents and children in the eye, we make decisions that we know we can live with and in the end we do what we believe is right and no matter how scary or unbelievable their actions are to us, as long as they can live with it then we stand by them, they are after all our friends.”

James sat up through the night with Peter by his side going through everything that he said, realizing that everything he said was true, he was still going to fight but not for glory or to be a hero but because it was what was right and if he was going to fight and die then he was going to do so at the side of his family because by Merlin blood or not they were family.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhmmmm... merry Christmas, happy new year....and Im sorry for how long this took. I wrote according to my interests and after a while i get bored writing one story but i dont abandon them. None of my works are abandoned i just take a while to update

Chapter 18

While the rest of the school decided to bunker down and come to grips with their mortality and the fact that a Hufflepuff just ripped out the heart of a Slytherin while explaining how pointless their blood war was going to be, Hadrian and his siblings were in the room of requirements, ignoring the life changing lesson that he had just taught to ¾ of the school and the fact that several of their friends/love interests were having life changing thoughts and making decisions that would shape their futures.

The room of requirements immediately changed into a comfortable lounge with a fire going for them as Hadrian sagged into a one of the softest couches available and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands in relief, he may be the General and he had gotten used to having eyes on him and people watching him but he always put up a mask when that happened and it was tiring. Hermione, Draco and Neville settled themselves around him waiting for some sort of bloody explanation that the huge steps that he had taken without telling any of them his new plans.

“You know Hadrian, if you wanted to give Dumbledore a heart attack, I would have gladly helped you plan something a little less bloody.” Drawled Hermione and Neville chuckled at how much of a brat their sister could be when she wanted to be one. The amount of sass in the one sentence probably weighed more than she did.

Hadrian rolled his eyes and ignored her sass while he collected his thoughts. He may have killed before in their reality or the future or whatever you wanted to think of it as but the truth was that he had not done something so ruthless in a long time. They had been in this timeline for over a year, nearly two and the only thing that he done in that time was fight against Tommy for a few minutes. 

His heart was still racing from the duel and his eyes were a little brighter than usual. He supposed that this was the result when one hides a part of themselves away for so long, he had missed being on the front lines and leading his family. He missed being in control and for so long he had controlled so much from the shadows but no longer. They couldn’t afford to keep their secrets anymore and it was time for them to step forward, they had done enough, put enough pieces into play, now it was time to show the world what the Peverell family was truly capable of doing.

“Dumbledore figured out it was me who managed to duel Tom in Diagon Alley, he tried to force me to become his puppet once more, this was my warning to him not to push me any further.” 

Hadrian’s words were met with silence from his siblings as they digested that Dumbledore knew however they moved passed it quickly. 

Draco merely shrugged, “We knew not to underestimate him, in fact, if he hadn’t figured it out I would have been quite disappointed.”

Neville nodded his head, “Agreed, the question is, why did you kill Evan Avery?”

Hadrian merely raised an eyebrow at the question and Hermione rolled her eyes, “We know that he poisoned Draco in a pathetic attempt to steal the crown from Draco by weakening him before a battle but we didn’t expect you to turn his death into a spectacle. You didn’t have to manage the situation in that specific manner.”

Hadrian smiled, his siblings really did know him better than anyone else in the world and he did appreciate their loyalty. There were very few people in the world that would recognize the fact that even though he had been extremely angry, his actions were not controlled by said anger. He was in control of every decision that he had made, nothing was said or done that he had not already accounted for and that was something that only his siblings were able to see. 

It would have probably terrified everyone who had been present if they had known that he had not lost his temper, that while he dueled against Evan he had not been angry but in complete control of his actions, that he had willing ripped out his heart, making good on his promise because he wanted to do it. That none of them had seen him lose his temper and that was bloody terrifying because if this was him in control then what would he do if he ever lost that control?

Not even Dumbledore had realized that he wasn’t acting out of anger but that he had a plan, then again Dumbledore was still reeling from the amount of hits that Hadrian had managed to take at him without him being even a little bit prepared. He had caught the old man off guard and as beautiful as it had been it was unlikely that he would be able to do so again but then again Dumbledore wasn’t going to expect his next move either so he was going to enjoy the chaos that would come in the morning. Afterwards it was unlikely that he would be able to catch the man by surprise ever again.

“I handled Avery the way I did because he was loyal to Tom, nothing that Draco or I had done was going to turn him from his Lord. He was a nuisance, Evan Avery would be a pain in our asses for as long as we were in Hogwarts and afterwards he would continue to be a shit stain, this way he was useful to us. Besides loyalty like that is dangerous, if we overlooked him even by accident, we could have found ourselves in hot water. We know better than to underestimate loyalty and desperation to Tom Riddle.”

Draco nodded his head, it was true that while Evan was not very powerful or very bright he was loyal to Tom and loyalty like that often bled into desperation. Evan would have tried to curry favor with his Lord, tried to get information, hurt or kill one of the siblings or any of their friends. The fact was that Evan was a servant of the Dark Lord and Tom was currently very unhappy with the way his war is turning out which meant that sooner or later he would target someone to instill fear in them. 

He would plot and probably try to discredit Dumbledore or the school and that meant targeting the students and having Evan inside the walls of Hogwarts would give him opportunity. They had lost many friends because they didn’t think that some people were dangerous yet, because they were locked up or without wands that they couldn’t cause trouble and they learned the hard way that those loyal to Tom would always find a way to cause trouble, in other words better to be safe than sorry.

Evan Avery was dead and there was one less supporter of the Dark Lord walking inside the castle and he was now unable to harm anyone. Neville didn’t really care if Hadrian killed him or not, if Avery had attacked anyone else it was likely that he would have killed him just to stop him from being a pain but Neville just wanted to know why he had to die in front of the entire school.

Hadrian then continued his explanation, “Lord Avery was causing some trouble on the political front with Marcus and our other allies. There were also several rumors that he was trying to locate several families to use them against the Lords of their houses so he needed to go as well. It wasn’t even that hard to convince him to duel me, he thought that since I was a little Hufflepuff I wouldn’t be able to win against his son, basically I used his own ego against him to get him to agree to the duel.”

Draco fought the urge to sigh, it really was such a problem for many of Tom’s supporters none of them had any bloody common sense. He honestly couldn’t understand how people could look at Hadrian and not recognize the utter power that was rolling of him even when he masked it. He carried himself like a leader and honestly people were just so easily fooled by his kitten eyes and easy smiles. Lord Avery had basically just walked to death with a smile on his face and then nearly shat his pants when Hadrian allowed his power to roam free.

“As for why the theatrics, because the bloody school needed a wake-up call and I was sick to death of their bloody naivety. Tell me, weren’t you tired of them all wearing their rose colored glasses?”

Hermione merely shrugged, “I thought it was kind of funny, so many of them running around yelling about good and evil and how they were going to be heroes. It was sort of humorous in an unrealistic kind of way.”

Neville face-palmed, “You’re spending too much time with Severus sister. Your humor has gotten quiet dark since you started hanging out with him.”

Hermione scrowled at him and couldn’t help but snipe back at him, “Dark as your soul dear brother.”

Draco hid his laugh with a cough and Hadrian merely raised an eyebrow and declared, “Enough.”

Hermione and Neville turned to him with identical smiles of innocence and Draco rolled his eyes, “Oh please, Hadrian taught you both that look.”

Hadrian stared at his siblings in shock, “You know I expected you guys to be mad or angry or even a bit frustrated at the fact that I just turned all our plans into dust.”

Draco just shook his head, “We were, but at the same time its just damn good to have you back where you belong, you know acting as our leader in front of everyone. It was just tiring, hiding so much, Neville had so much on his shoulders, everything just went insane but at the same time, you never needed to step up no matter how insane things got. We’re just too happy that we can be who we are, properly now, hiding just got old.”

Hadrian could understand their frustration with secrets, none of them took well to being lied too but when it was them doing the lying it still didn’t get any easier in fact it just got harder because there was only so much you could show the world, wearing masks, it got lonely and tiring and it felt like the weight of the world on your shoulders. They all just wanted the freedom to stop hiding a part of themselves away and Hadrian being their leader was a big part of themselves. They had hid him, protected him, lied for him and turned all the attention onto themselves so that he would be anonymous and it had taken a toll on them all and now it was finally time for them all to step into the light.

Hadrian nodded his head and then they went back to their serious conversation, “Another reason why I killed them is because I wanted Tommy’s attention. He’ll come for me now probably during a Hogsmead weekend or something and I would like a chance to duel him properly. We need to figure out his power levels as well as figure out how sane he is right now.”

Hermione nearly face-palmed but at the same time she could understand this course of action. If the world saw Hadrian face off against Tom then it would show them all the fact that Dumbledore wasn’t the only person in the world who would stand against him. They needed to get people to stop bowing down to the whims of that old man and get off their asses and save themselves and seeing a teenager fight against the man that Dumbledore proclaimed as the evilest, most dangerous Dark Lord ever would get their asses moving.

Neville hated to admit it but Hadrian was right, they did need to see how powerful he was and they needed to know how sane he was in this time period. It would go a long way in helping them to figure out how he thought. Their Tom was impulsive and angry all the time resulting in him making rash decisions and now it looked like they needed to kick him in the balls several times to get a reaction out of him because he only attacked once and then they never heard from him again. 

As horrible as the raids had been, there was a certain consistency to them and even though people died it helped them keep better track of where he was and what he was doing and without Severus giving them information they were left in the dark on many of his actions and they needed something from him. Tom needed to attack, he needed to take an interest in Hadrian because eventually they would have to duel to end the war and they weren’t done with the horcruxes yet.

“Bellatrix Black has married Malcolm McKinnon.” Said Hadrian and Hermione immediately rubbed her hand over her mudblood scar.

“Well no crazy Bellatrix Lestrange, I say that’s good news.” Replied Neville, “That crazy bitch ruined a lot of lives.”

Draco rubbed the snake scars on his palms, still being hidden by his gloves. No one in Hogwarts had ever seen the Slytherin Peverell not wearing gloves and Hermione always wore sleeves to cover her scars. Neville thought of his parents and how without a crazy Bella they wouldn’t be tortured into insanity and he couldn’t help the relieved sigh that left his lips. They all deserved so much better.

“Good news yes, but there is bad news as well. She got the cup as a wedding present since Bella never married a Lestrange she didn’t get the cup. We don’t know where it is.”

There was a heavy silence in the air as the siblings took in the fact that they would have to start looking from scratch to find the cup.

“We have the ring, the locket, the diadem and the book is in Malfoy manor. We just need to get it.” Said Hermione and Draco bit his lip.

“We need to move quickly on the dairy. Lucius Malfoy has stood with us, against the Dark Lord, his father will be punished and the book might be taken away.”

Hadrian cursed at the reminder that Lucius had followed Narcissa when she stood with them and while he valued her stance she had put Lucius in danger. Abraxas could die and none of them could care but they did need the dairy and they needed to get it before Tommy could call a meeting and punish the father for his sons choices, by morning everyone would know what happened here. 

Hermione stood up and a piece of parchment appeared before her with a quill, she quickly penned a note and called for Solly to deliver the note to Severus in the Slytherin common room. She prayed that this would work.

“What have you done?” asked Neville and Hermione chuckled nervously.

“I asked Severus to tell Lucius to summon Dobby and order him to steal the diary and then set him free or Hadrian would be coming for him next.”

Her response was met by raised eyebrows and stunned faces until she threw up her hands in frustration, “It was all we had. We don’t have time to storm Malfoy manor and why do that when we already have a Malfoy that can get a house elf to bring it to him.”

“What makes you think Lucius will listen?” asked Hadrian and Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Lucius is a coward. He values his own life too much to care about a book and a house elf.” She replied and no one could really argue with her on that matter so they just let it go.

Ten minutes later, Solly delivered the book wrapped in a silk cloth which they immediately locked in an iron box and Dobby was offered a job to work for Hadrian. Honestly it shouldn’t have been that simple.

The siblings decided to go to bed afterwards, they chatted a bit more but none of them knew where to start on the cup so for now they were going to deal with the aftermath of everything that just happened as well as the enjoy the chaos that they were going to create in the morning. Hogwarts was stunned by their actions in the night, the morning was going to bring even more surprises for them.

There was nervous energy humming through the crowd at breakfast the next morning. No one under the age of thirteen had been allowed to watch the events that had taken place but everyone knew and they were all waiting for the Peverell siblings. They wanted to see what was coming next which was why when Draco entered the hall dressed in his school uniform but his outer robe was different, it was black with the Slytherin crest on it and he wore on his right hand ring finger, a silver ring with an emerald green snake on it.

Eyes widened, whispers were heard and even Dumbledore had paled when every single snake bowed to him in unison.

Draco stood at the head of the table, “I am Lord Draco Thanatos Peverell-Slytherin, Lord of the most Ancient And Most Noble House of Slytherin. You may rise and be seated.”

Draco didn’t sit down, he just waited ignoring the awestruck and confused faces of everyone in the school while his snakes realized that their founders line was still alive.

Hermione entered next, wearing the crest of Ravenclaw and a silver ring with a blue diamond in the shape of an eagle on it.

The house of Ravenclaw followed suit and bowed to her as she declared, “I am Hermione Hel Peverell-Ravenclaw, Lady of the most Ancient And Most Noble House of Ravenclaw. You may rise and be seated.”

Neville entered wearing the crest of Gryffindor and a gold ring with a gold lions head with rubies for eyes and the house of Lions bowed to him, “I am Neville Anubis Peverell-Gryffindor, Lord of the most Ancient And Most Noble House of Gryffindor, you may rise and be seated.”

The three siblings sat down and slowly breakfast begun when Dumbledore rose and spoke, “We are all excited to know that three of the founders line have been revived however that does not excuse the-”

He was cut off by the doors to the great hall opening and Hadrian walked inside, with the symbol of the deathly hallows on his robes and he was wearing the stone of resurrection. Dumbledore’s eyes widened as he took in the symbol and the ring and they both knew what ring it truly was.

“Hadrian Hades Peverell, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell. I thank my Lord Brother for acting as my proxy however I have now taken full control of my estate.”

Hadrian’s three siblings got up and went to stand with them and several eyes widened at the amount of political power, wealth and magic that the four siblings had between them and they made it very clear that they stood together. As one they walked out of the Great Hall, leaving Dumbledore to question everything that he once thought he knew.


End file.
